My former B-School recently launched a social network for its alumni.  I’ve been waiting for it for years since I’m convinced that’s the things must go.

Not such a long time ago, the added value of an alumni network was to be a part of a directory and, sometimes, to attend some events if you had the chance to live in the right place. It was a good way for the younger to see how their elder have been successful in their carreer and to be proud to be a part of the directory and to be able to ask the so-called elder for help. A good way too for the elder to feel they can help their successors. Or to be overwhelmed by “calls for help”, depending on how you see things.

As time went by, being a part of a directory was not enough. Something more was needed. In the web era, being a part of a paper or online directory didn’t match alumni’s needs anymore. A more dynamic vision was needed to stimulate its activity and exchanges within it. The directory has to become a network. It’s nothing more that the adaption of what’s happening in real life to a higher scale made possible by the web. Once, a friend told be : “you see, there’s the directory. It’s the only thing we all share, and the network is for those who already know each other, make things together”. Now  the network would be open to everyone, without any time or place constraint.

That’s why I was enthusiast when I was told the network was opening. But I’ve been postponing my first connection for weeks. Or months. Anyway. As a matter of fact what I have been waiting for for years and had just opened was not at the top of my priorities. I came to wonder why.

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