UK 
United States
Let’s face it. LinkedIn is has become something of a phenomenon.
Whilst its membership surely has to top-out soon (in January 2025 the UK user-base hit 44.6 million), the original business social networking platform is still officially growing and is still a place that attracts more cerebral and thoughtful debate [far fewer keyboard warriors here]. And all of the above means one thing: For its army of regular users (mostly Millennials and Generation X), it’s become the de rigueur place to be to do what LinkedIn does best: networking. According to YouGov data, a staggering 48% of members now say LinkedIn is ‘the’ place to either network direct or grow their network. A further 31% say it’s the place they make a beeline for to follow industry people/experts. And, through all this (thanks to the self promotion and visibility it gives the most regular of users), it also supplies what at lot of networkers really crave – access to new opportunities.
But oh how very ‘digital’!
The question one surely has to ask is this: Is networking really networking when it is done behind screens, laptops and iPads?
What’s happened to real networking – you know, where people actually made real eye-contact, and actually met people face-to-face?
The rebirth of physical networking
While LinkedIn’s growth might stoke fear that real networking could become a dying activity, there’s a committed group of organisers that are determined to keep the fires of real networking communities burning.
In fact, some say it’s precisely because everything is so impersonal nowadays, that ‘real’ networking groups are now experiencing something of a revival.
To see for itself, HR Grapevine decided to take a look at some of the HR-specific networking groups that aren’t just growing, but claim to be positively benefiting from a desire amongst HR professionals to physically be together and share knowledge and best practice:
The London HR Connection
Originally a branch of the CIPD for more than 40 years, since last July, the London HR Network has officially de-coupled from the Institute to become its own distinct entity, run by Craig McCoy – former HRD at Compaq, BT and BSkyB – who has chaired the group for the last decade. Since then, through reaching out to commercial partners [it wasn’t funded when part of the CIPD], the group has started to morph into what McCoy says he’s always wanted it to be – a much larger, and UK-wide group, rather than just fixating on London. So much so, in fact, that it’s already expanded into Manchester, is about to host its first meet-up in Cardiff this September, and in light of all this will shortly be rebranded the ‘HR Connection Group’ – finally dropping the ‘London’ part altogether. “We’ve grown to around 5,000 members,” says McCoy, “and we are still growing. We hold events three times a month – either breakfasts, round-tables or evening events – that are free for members, and they attract people who simply want to peer-network in a safe place, discuss trends, learn from each other and find opportunities. Around 15-20% are between jobs, and do networking for this reason,” he says. “But most also want to learn and share best practice socially.” Growth is such that McCoy has recently created a ‘top-end’ group of 200 or so HRDs that have to be vetted by him, and who can become part of an HR Connection WhatsApp group. But fundamentally, he says, the real draw is the face-to-face element. He says: “I’m actually finding the group, and especially the WhatsApp group, to be more powerful than LinkedIn now,” he says. “LinkedIn members can only join 50 groups, and that’s as far as it takes you. But here, I know people really value meeting in person. I find that people that are interested in networking now actually make time for it.”
