Online communities gather with ready-made networks

The Internet provides an unparalleled way to connect with others, whoever those others happen to be. The example I usually give is that of synesthetes ? people who experience the condition of synesthesia.

Synesthesia is extremely rare ? perhaps one person in a million has this condition, under which senses get ?switched.? It?s a ?condition in which information from one sensory modality (e.g., auditory) is coded in another modality (e.g., visual).? The synesthete may see sounds, or taste shapes. He?ll still hear the sounds, and feel the shapes, but in addition he?ll see the sounds and taste the shapes. It?s as if some of the auditory and tactile information coming from the body?s sensors ?leaks? over into different channels in the brain.

Of course when synesthetes are young, they don?t realize how unusual they are. They assume that everyone sees sounds, or feels colors or hears smells. They talk about their experiences but soon learn not to! Other people think they?re strange, a little weird or downright crazy. So eventually they keep it to themselves. And because the condition is so rare, in the past they have, in the most part, lived with the condition as their own little secret.

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The Internet is changing that, of course. Even if the nearest synesthete lives 100 miles from you, you can still be part of the synesthesia ?community,? thanks to the wonders of computer programming. Search Google for synesthesia, and you?ll find thousands of pages containing the term, many on synesthesia community sites.

The Internet has made a new form of community possible for synesthetes. No longer isolated, they can talk with others about their experiences and finally be understood. But the Internet has made new forms of community possible for all of us ? new connections, new networks. Now, many of us Internet ?old-timers? have backed off involvement in online communities because they can be so incredibly time-consuming. But there?s another form of network that takes very little involvement, but that can be quite powerful. I?m thinking of the ?six degrees of separation? type of network, such as one I work with, LinkedIn (http://www.LinkedIn.com/).

Let?s say someone invites you to join LinkedIn (you don?t need an invitation, but having one helps as it gives you a ready-made network.) On joining, you become part of the inviter?s network. Joe, for instance, may have 35 people in his network … you?re now No. 36. You can contact Joe directly through the system, but although you can read information about the other 35 people in Joe?s network, you can?t contact them directly.

You can build your own network, though, by inviting people you know. So you can think of LinkedIn as a mass of concentric circles, overlapping and touching each other. Each member has his or her own network, and is in turn a member of other networks ? a ?you?re a member of my network, I?m a member of your network? kind of thing.

Now, here?s where it gets powerful. Let?s say I want to find someone who knows how to, say, wire fish tanks with microphones, so I can hear my fish talk. I can search online for ?fish microphones,? and see who has the skills I need. Or perhaps I want to hire someone for my company, or am looking for a contractor to carry out a particular task, or perhaps have decided that, in order to strengthen and protect my gene pool, my future children require a mother with a postgraduate degree in higher math. I can search for the desired qualities, whether business, technical, personal, or social, and LinkedIn will tell me who matches.

In most cases I can?t contact these people. But LinkedIn will tell me how many steps away they are. It might say ?three degrees,? for instance. In other words, ?you don?t know this person, but you know A, and A knows B, and B knows the person.? So now you can send a message, routed through A and B. A gets a message telling him that you want to reach someone, and that in order to do so the message has to go through B. If A is still alive, still online and feeling kind, A will pass on the message to B, who also has to be alive, kicking and sympathetic to your request. But eventually, there?s a good chance that your target will hear from you and can then decide whether or not to respond.

In the last few weeks I?ve received a message from a headhunter doing an employment search from a client, and one from a venture capitalist with an intriguing and vague offer of a role in an ?exciting startup.? Many job hunters and headhunters use the system now (I?m not sure how many people look for spouses). It?s a truly useful system, that takes little time beyond the original setup … and you never know when you might need it.

Peter Kent is the author of ?Search Engine Optimization for Dummies? and many other computer- and Internet-related books. For more information, see www.iChannelServices.com.