Why should we?
Networking at social events
When it comes to social events for networking in the industry, back when we were allowed to that is, this was more for creating social networking by making friendships with people in the animation industry rather than looking for chances to find industry work. These people would help you either get a bigger following if you were an artist or have communications that could lead to you helping them getting jobs or vice versa. Plus, it's always great to have friends that you can hang out with after a work shift to relieve stress and enjoy your life.
A example of a social networking event I went to was MCM ComicCon way back in 2016, where I went with my school friends and had my father help me travel to the event. MCM is a good example of a social event to network at is because you can easily find people you can connect through fandoms by cosplay meet-ups, buying art or just walking around the building; and not only that, but Comic Cons are especially great for animators since these conventions nowadays revolve around animated media from all around the world, especially Anime. When I was there, I got to meet and interact with strangers in a welcoming environment through a Undertale cosplay meet up (it was one of the popular medias that year); and I did plan to go again last year and try communicating with more industry stars, but as we all know, that didn't happen.
Another social network event that was recommended by my tutor was Vertex, which is a media event in London the university took everyone to, which I didn't go on due to travel plans from my family's point of view. But from what I've heard from other classmates and the event's website, it's a event where they get people from the industry (concept artists to full on animators) to come in to speak about their experience in the industry, but there would also be fun workshops for attendees to do such as doing some life drawing or trying out some of the professional art softwares such as MagmaStudio Pro. While yes, this event is more professional compared to MCM, it's a great in-between example of a social event where you can go to socialise or try and get your name out there to some industry artists or studios.
Now, after university, I will have to keep an eye out for these types of events for myself; but I these examples aren't the only options as you can find ANY social event to network with other people. Naturally, I would go to conventions for maybe two days, one day for the social networking and the other day to give myself some self promotion. I also hope that any event where there would be a lot of people around can help in me making connections and getting friends, like going to a concert (which I could be going to if covid settles down hopefully) or volunteering at a community job such as the community cinema I used to help out at before the pandemic ruined everything.
Networking in online communities
In comparison to social networking, online networking is more focused on the professional side; mainly by how easy it is to communicate and get in touch with industry people and studios, which makes having a good online image and self promotion important. Online communities are usually were it's easier to get noticed by the industry and result in you possibly getting a job there; one famous example being the artist RJ Palmer who did realistic pokemon drawings and as a result, got to work on the Detective Pikachu film adaptation.
Currently, as I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I've had a DevaintArt account for roughly half a decade. This has allowed me to network with other talented artists and people who I've had strong friendships with compared to my real life experiences. Although I mainly use the website as a social media to showcase fanart and a few original characters; I have a decent following of over three hundred watchers and with this big of an audience, it shouldn't be too difficult for me to self promote my work when I start doing more commission work. Plus, these friends have helped me get my work noticed by people from the animation industry; such as in December of 2017 when a friend sent birthday fanart to one of my favourite voice actors (Keith Sliverstein, known for his roles as Hawkmoth from Miraculous Ladybug, Hisoka Morrow from Hunter X Hunter and Trojorn from Overwatch) through twitter and he actually responded to it.
But DevaintArt does have a reputation for not being the most professional website, even with me as I mainly use it for non professional and more casual networking; so if I want to make a name for myself through networking, I might need to get a new social media account. Some recommendations from our tutor are ArtStation and Instagram, since they're quite mainstream and do accommodate art more than other social medias, such as Youtube or Twitter.
ArtStation is the more current and professional version of DevaintArt, with pages dedicated to showcasing a portfolio and even a page advertising jobs for various studios such as Nickelodeon or Blizzard Entertainment. It's the best online network to find career opportunities within the industry. Plus, the way the website is coded allows for 3D models and even short animations much easier compared to other medias; so it's more accessible to a larger variety of art mediums.
As for Instagram, the social media is used a lot by people from the animation industry, ranging from industry studios, individual artists and even voice actors and actresses; this can allow your art to be seen by a particular person or studio directly thanks to tags, so it gets industry people to notice them and give them a good public image. So if you get to a stage where you're directing your own projects, you might get actors more interested in joining the project if they recognise you and your work; plus, you can show your art process and inspirations through stuff such as Instagram stories. All in all, if you want to have a balance between social and professional online networking, Instagram would be the best place to go!
All in all, each online network has it's own positives and negatives; it's just up to the individual artist with which online platform they would promote themselves and find their way into the industry networks.
Choosing work for you
(The bigger picture)
Now, another thing about networking that we would have to keep an eye on how our network relationships could effect our future lives and relationships; how you need to find a balance between professional and personal relationships and how they can effect your job opportunities.
When you're young and new to the industry, a studio would be more likely to hire you for a job since you need the experience and money and might not complain about the work schedule. But also since you won't have any other commitments that would distract you from your work, which would allow you to be more flexible with where you would work if the job opportunities would require for you to move countries for example.
However, as you get older and your network connections gets bigger; your choices of jobs ironically might get slimmer if you start a relationship or get married, since your job won't just effect you but your family. Say if you get a job that requires you to move to Canada for a year, you would have to ask permission to take the job to your partner and if they say no, then you can't take the job unless you want to damage the relationship.
Therefore, within the industry, you would need to find a balance between your professional and social networks; as they can effect each other in some negative aspects. If you focus on your professional network relationships too much, you'll have no social relationships which could end up with you feeling alone in between jobs and therefore, unmotivated to find more jobs; but if you focus more on your social relationships, you might find your job opportunities very limiting. I'm not sure how you would balance this, due to my autism, anxiety and being stuck in lockdown with the same four people; but I'm sure it will come naturally to me, as I can focus on my career first and building a identity before finding time to settle down with friends and making a balance between work life and family life.