They&#x27;re pretty closely intertwined, though, in the sense that you can probably find people in your network who share a person or network in common with someone you&#x27;re trying to reach.  At least that was how it was at my small, elite liberal arts college of 400 people&#x2F;year.  I didn&#x27;t know everyone in my class, but if someone went there at the same time as me, it&#x27;s almost guaranteed that there is at least one person there we knew in common.<p>The whole point of networking is so you don&#x27;t have to cold-approach someone and there&#x27;ll be someone or something you have in common.  The whole point of social networking tools (LinkedIn, Facebook) is so you know who that person is.