French-American Networks – alex de carvalho

As part of their research on online social networks for the recently published book, "The Virtual Handshake", David Teten and Scott Allen posted an article on French-American Networks:

"Most French, besides the younger generation, do not like to network online. Culturally speaking, the French build trust by meeting a few times around a table or when they are introduced by a close contact. Unlike in the USA, where trust is granted automatically when the parties agree on a win-win task, in France, it has to be earned by building a personal relationship. As trust is earned mostly through non-verbal communication, the French rely on online networking only when it is an extension of an existing relationship or when they assume they share the same values by being part of the same network or community.

In other words, online networking is more effective for maintaining a relationship than for starting or building a relationship. That said, the younger generation is much more Internet-friendly (and certainly the French are very heavy users of text-messaging), however, we can expect online networking to grow in importance over time."

Indeed, online French business and social networks (Friendset, Viaduc, 6nergies) have been growing at a snail’s pace compared to their American counterparts. Taking into account the French attachment to long-standing offline networks and particularly to the ever-important school ties, a better strategy in France might be to bring existing offline clubs online and to build a network of networks along the way.

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