Why Does Business Networking Feel So Broken Now?

There’s something kind of funny about business networking, because in theory, it sounds useful, normal, and actually pretty simple. Plus, business networking at one point in time was seen as something that was vital too. So, you meet people, have conversations, build relationships, find opportunities, and maybe get introduced to someone who can help move things along. Great. And while yes, it can be as straightforward as this, it’s not usually this straightforward, though.

So, a networking event can feel like walking into a room where everyone has already practiced their little pitch in the mirror, and now everyone’s just politely waiting for their turn to talk. LinkedIn can feel like one giant hallway of humblebrags (well, it practically is), vague leadership posts, and people “thrilled to announce” something every five minutes. Well, cold outreach, of course, can feel even worse, because half the time it’s either ignored completely or it comes across like a copy-and-paste message that could’ve been sent to literally anyone with a pulse and an email address.

And for businesses, that’s the problem. Connections still matter. Referrals still matter. Partnerships, collaborations, introductions, and word-of-mouth still help companies grow in a way paid ads can’t always recreate. But the way a lot of networking happens now feels tired, forced, and honestly kind of performative. It used to not be this way, really, it didn’t, but this is basically what it turned into.

Old-School Networking Can Feel Painfully Awkward

Okay, business mixers and conferences can work, sure. These clearly aren’t useless, or a waste of time, or anything like that. Plus, plenty of great partnerships have started over lukewarm coffee, name tags, and slightly uncomfortable small talk near a folding table. But there’s also this very specific awkwardness that comes with traditional networking. Maybe that awkwardness was always there.

But you walk into a room, and immediately, it’s like everyone’s trying to figure out who’s worth talking to, who’s selling something, who has decision-making power, and who’s just there because their boss told them to go. It can get transactional fast, even when nobody means for it to. The same goes for just randomly adding people on LinkedIn; it’s a little weird and transactional there, too.

For smaller businesses, that can feel especially rough. A newer founder, local service provider, consultant, creative agency, or startup owner might walk in hoping to meet useful people, but instead, they’re stuck doing the same “so, what do you do?” conversation twelve times. Well, no offense, but what are they even gaining here? It’s hard to get anything meaningful from there, plain and simple.

LinkedIn Made Networking Easier, But Also Kind of Worse

Yes, LinkedIn was insulted twice already, but it’s so bad that it seriously deserves its own section. The idea sounds nice, but it just doesn’t actually work. Sure, LinkedIn can be useful, but it can also feel like everyone’s performing a slightly polished business version of themselves.  Well, probably more than that (like that post “What proposing to my GF taught me about B2B sales” is a great example of the nonsense),

For businesses, this creates a strange little problem. They know they need to be visible. They know they need to build relationships. But the main digital networking space can feel crowded, overly polished, and a bit fake if it’s used badly. So whatever you put on there could land badly.

Cold Outreach has Become too Easy to ignore

Cold outreach used to feel more direct. So, you’d send an email, make a call, introduce the business, explain the value, and see what happens. Now, people are drowning in messages all day. Inbox, DMs, contact forms, LinkedIn requests, newsletter replies, automated follow-ups, calendar invites from strangers, the whole thing is a lot. Is it a real human or is it AI reaching out to you? Well, it seems sketchy enough, honestly, so better ignore the cold email.

Businesses Need Better Ways to Find the Right People

But yeah, circling back to earlier though, a lot of networking feels broken because businesses are often looking in the wrong rooms, or they’re in the right room but surrounded by the wrong people. Like a local bakery trying to connect with event planners, a marketing agency trying to find startup founders, a consultant trying to meet small business owners, or a creator trying to work with brands, all need something more focused than “post and pray.” Because that probably won’t even work here. 

That’s why discovery is such a big part of the conversation now. It’s not necessarily about getting a bigger audience; that’s far from the point. It’s about relevancy. So, it’s just trying to get better pathways to relevant people, relevant opportunities, and relevant communities. There’s a difference between being visible to everyone and being discoverable by the people who actually make sense.

But ideally, here, it’s probably going to help a lot to have the right tools here for that discovery to be possible. So, a business using the CircleHub discovery platform, for example, could fit into a wider strategy of getting found by people who are already looking for new connections, collaborations, places, or opportunities instead of relying only on awkward outreach or algorithm luck, especially if you’re a creator or in the creative field.

You Should Stop Treating Every Connection Like a Sale

It goes back to cold outreach earlier; it feels weird, robotic, and again, nowadays, networking is horribly transactional. So there needs to be a better approach, like a lot better. A better approach is to think in terms of useful alignment. Does this person serve the same audience? Could there be a future collaboration? Is there shared knowledge? Could this connection lead to an introduction later? Is there a reason to stay in touch that isn’t just “please buy something”?

Networking Needs to Feel More Human Again

Now that networking in the 1980s and 1990s was better, but at least they were human and a little less transactional. You don’t have to stop networking, but you do need to stop treating this like a numbers game; all businesses need to stop that.