by Leo Petrik

This was a fascinating question that was asked me recently when I was online, from my LinkedIn community. I had to really think about this one, as I couldn’t really find any clear answers.

Then it dawned on me.

Neither of them! It is not a matter of gender, but a matter of personality and temperament.

Instead of looking at WHAT, and starting to look at WHO, it became quite apparent that a particular type of person populated the online community far more effectively than the other.

What I discovered was that the majority (over 65%) of people I looked at from the groups I belong to, who had a significant and effective online presence, were on the introverted side and often had an internal frame of reference. In this article, I am going to call them, ‘Einstein’s’.

What that means is that they tend to be people (men and women), who are happiest being in the background (except online), and are quiet achievers. They are often more task oriented and detail focused than others. They also quietly consider their options and opportunities before they commit to a task or course of action.

Most of the people who were extrovert and had an external frame of reference, generally did OK online, but they much prefer to be networking face-to-face. If they went online, those that were very good at it, often didn’t do it by themselves. They generally enlisted the help of somebody who was quite good with online processes. I’m calling this group ‘Rambo’s’.

I found that ‘Einstein’s’ had a far more elegant and thought out strategy online. They diligently applied themselves and worked at building their online communities and networks. They were able to enlist support, referrals and assistance, both offline and online by the elegant fashion in which they went about things. They had plan and a process and diligently worked at.

‘Rambo’s', even the successful ones online, were more eclectic, meaning that they were in a number of different online communities without actually connecting the dots. Or they simply stuck to one platform, without looking at how the whole online opportunity could assist them. They can be very effective online (but not the majority of them), but they aren’t particularly elegant and much of what they do is spontaneous, high-energy, and they often miss opportunities that present themselves to them.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of ‘Einstein’s’ and ‘Rambo’s’ online who are very successful. Also, there will always be exceptions to these generalisations. But to answer the question, who is better at online networking, and to me, this includes effectiveonline networking, my vote goes to the ‘Einstein’s’.

By the way, to those who know me, and for those who will get to know me, I’m a “Rambo”, with a lot to learn .

Happy, profitable online networking!