This week we’ve discovered that even a very short taxi ride can be an opportunity for making connections. My girlfriend took a short taxi ride in town. You know how taxi drivers like to talk  - they’re born with excellent networking skills.

This specific taxi driver that took my girlfriend happens to make a living also from real estate. He started the conversation by showing noting that some new buildings that they passed upon are very expensive. This triggered a conversation about the prices of houses in the city.

In any taxi ride you can develop a conversation about the price of homes, sports and some healthy complaining about the government. This taxi driver had an agenda. He had a reason for triggering his passengers to talk about house prices.

In the case of my girlfriend, the rant about rising house prices was fruitful. My girlfriend and myself are looking for a apartment to rent together in the coming months. The talk about houses in the city lead her to mention this fact. The taxi driver jumped on the opportunity and told her about his other occupation.

Now she was more interested to hear about this issue from his knowledge. At the end of the ride, he offered her his business card, and she was glad to take it and keep it.

I’m not sure if we’ll use his services when we’ll do an extensive search for an apartment. We might use his services in searching but might strike a deal through someone else. But we still have a great story about networking.

As shown here, networking can happen anywhere.

We can also learn from this taxi driver’s style – he began the chat by talking about something on the route. After some discussion, his potential client showed interest in his business, and he presented it. And at the end he “made the move” with his business card.

This elegant networking is quite impressive.

Twitter is young: it aired only in 2006, when other social networks were already strong in the market. In the last year or so, it’s popularity leaped worldwide.

The short 140 format makes it easy to use and easy to follow. Naturally, you follow and get followed by people you know. Later you become exposed to more people that share a common interest.

After reaching a critical mass, communities began evolving around the “Twittersphere”. This critical mass means that not only geeks use it, but the general public. So, people that get to know each other via very short messages want to get together in real life. So, tweetups were born.

A Tweetup is a Networking Event

Tweetups are usually held once a month during the evening at a bar. This allows for a relaxed and not to formal atmosphere. But the attendants of this event didn’t solely to drink a beer before going home.

Attendants of tweetups are usually people who want to connect. They come also for meeting their virtual friends in real life, but they usually come with an agenda. The name tags with the @TwitterUser mean that a tweetup is a networking event, not a geek get-together.

Many times, the audience of tweetups has a tendency towards the internet sector, and internet marketing in particular, but it’s not a bunch of programmers…

So, tweetups are significant networking events, and especially important for those of you who want to connect to people in the internet sector.

How can I find out about upcoming Tweetups?

Naturally, the first place to look for them is on Twitter. There’s a good chance that they’ll be mentioned among the people you’re following. Didn’t see anything about an upcoming tweetup? Pop a question on Twitter. Someone will @reply.

If you still don’t find one there, Facebook would be a good place to search for a tweetup group in your vicinity.

Another valuable internet resource for tweetups is a rather new service called Twitvite. This site offers an option to arrange events where Twitter users can RVSP their attendance. They also offer to help you out with organizing tweetups…And if you’re organizing the tweetup, here’s a list of dos and don’ts.

Happy tweeting and networking!