In the early 1980s, John Naisbitt wrote in Megatrends about the emerging importance of the networking process in society. Later, Tom Peters wrote in Thriving on Chaos that this “process can be systematized.”

When you stop to think about it, these two statements weren’t made all that long ago. Networking and relationship marketing is a fairly new kid on the block. From the mid-1980s the 1990s, systems and structures began to emerge that shifted a lot of business owners from a single-minded focus of direct selling to a broader scope which included relationship marketing and networking.

There are several emerging issues and trends surrounding the process of networking that are being created out of the need to find an effective way to develop business for entrepreneurs and sales people in this new century. Here are three of the most prominent trends that I believe will become more important in the coming years.

1. Online and face-to-face networking will both continue to flourish.

Online networks like Ecademy.com and others will continue to grow successfully and help many of their members; however, they are not the final answer to business marketing or to networking. They are another great tool for people to connect with others (especially outside their local geographic area).

Referrals are, and will be for the foreseeable future, all about relationships. Whether they are relationships built online or face to face—they will still involve relationships. People refer people they know and trust. They will not regularly refer someone just because they are listed on a Web site—that’s called advertising, not networking.

Online networking works, but relationships must still be part of the process. Using the internet to exchange ideas, share knowledge and increase your visibility will be imperative in the coming years. Virtual networking is a trend that is really catching on in many circles. Some people involved in face-to-face networking feel threatened, as if online networking is going to replace their tried and true system.

Those who foretell the demise of face-to-face networking fail to note one important thing...the facts. Face-to-face networking groups continue to expand.

The more “high tech” business owners become, the more and more they really need to foster those “high touch” opportunities that face-to-face networking affords.

Virtual networking can be an effective way to increase your business and the internet can certainly be a great tool for staying in touch with those with whom you are currently networking, but it won’t replace face-to-face networking in our lifetime.

Technology flattens the communication hierarchy and provides opportunities to improve your networking efforts—not replace them. People who understand this will begin to effectively utilize technology without replacing relationships to take their marketing to new levels in the years to come.

2. Networking and social capital education

Don’t hold your breath for the colleges and universities of the world to begin teaching networking and social capital. At this point there are only two colleges in the world that offer regular, core-curriculum college courses on networking and social capital. One is at Davis College in Ohio and the other is at the University of Michigan.

The college and university systems are behemoths of bureaucracy that are so far behind the curve of small business development that we’re beginning to despair that they will ever catch on. Most professors have never had a real job in the business world and are completely out of touch with what is happening in real life, especially in small business.

We predict that the current trend in networking and social capital education will emerge in the form of private professional training organizations in much the same way that private industry has controlled the educational market on “sales techniques.”

Companies like the Referral Institute that are offering a series of trainings specific to the techniques and systems of networking, social capital, and referral marketing are starting to pop up with a very refined and polished slate of seminars and trainings for those business owners who want to learn how to harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing.

3. Small companies will continue to have the edge over big companies relating to business networking.

For the most part, big companies are clueless about building sales through the networking process. They continue to teach sales people traditional methodologies while relying heavily on advertising to create buzz. Mind you, there’s nothing inherently wrong with these strategies. The problem is, big companies don’t effectively add referral marketing into the process.

When it comes to developing social capital and the networking process, small business is king. Big business is slow to move out of the mindset of splashy ad campaigns, big dollars spent on traditional marketing, and the same-old, same-old.

If big corporations ever get it, watch out. But so far, they have been slow to act. Even programs like the USA’s “Do Not Call” registry, have not moved big companies into understanding how to train their people to network effectively...yet.

If big business does ever get it, however, it is likely to run over the little guys. It will learn how to develop social capital and will teach its people how to do true relationship marketing. For now, there are only a few forward thinking big companies who consistently apply these concepts.

When The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret came out in 1994 it was one of the few books in the bookstores that talked about networking. Now there are dozens, if not hundreds. An entire industry has been born over the last decade that is now being codified and refined. Over the next several years, you will see more and more about the importance of networking to build your business. It is developing into a science as well as a way of life.

These trends are not just an American phenomenon but an international one. Small business development through the process of building social capital will continue to grow in the global market we are currently experiencing. No one has a crystal ball, but based on what we’re seeing now and have seen in the past, we believe these are some of the key things to look for relating to networking and referral marketing over the next few years.

Called the “father of modern networking,” Ivan Misner is founder of BNI, one of the world’s largest business networking organization. Misner is also the senior partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company. Contact him at misner@cbi.cs

Tom Gosche, executive director of BNI Marketing in northern Illinois, is an expert in personal branding networking, has worked with countless organizations and individuals to develop their businesses with a professional brand image and strategic plan. Contact him at tom@bnimarketing.com