Just attended a business networking event.
Before the coffee kicked in, I’d already been dragged into a 200-person WhatsApp group. No ask. No context. Just boom - here’s your new digital nightmare.
Suddenly, my company number - public or not - is in the hands of hundreds of strangers. And many of them are now cold-pitching, link-dropping, or emoji-bombing the chat like it’s a 2012 growth hack.
So I asked the organiser:
“Did anyone actually opt into this?”
Silence.
Networking or a Compliance Time Bomb?
WhatsApp feels harmless. Fast. Familiar. Casual.
But add someone to a group chat, and their phone number is automatically shared with everyone else in it. That’s personal data. You’re not just “connecting people.” You’re distributing identifiers - without clear consent.
GDPR doesn’t care if your intentions were good. It cares whether the person said yes.
Consent isn’t assumed. It’s explicit, informed, and provable. Anything less isn’t “community-building.” It’s a breach.
The Illusion of Informality
Event organisers treat WhatsApp like duct tape for networking. It feels agile. Unofficial. Out of scope.
But when you use it as infrastructure for post-event engagement - especially at scale - you become a data controller. Whether you like it or not.
Most don’t even realise it. They treat the group as a favour. A bonus. A nice-to-have.
Until someone flags it. Or worse - gets flagged for it.
A Group Chat Is Not a Networking Strategy
If your entire plan for post-event connection is dumping attendees into a WhatsApp group and hoping they’ll “network,” you don’t have a strategy.
You have a chaos engine.
And that chaos is more than just bad UX - it’s non-compliant, non-consensual, and totally unnecessary.
Networking should feel intentional. Directed. Built for discovery, not noise.
Because when you strip away the emojis and AI-pitch spam, what you’re left with is a list of strangers, forced into a room they didn’t ask to enter.
Rethinking “Connection”
Consent is design.
If you want real networking - the kind that respects time, privacy, and attention - then you have to build for it.
That starts with choice. Clear opt-ins. Context before access. A system where joining is a decision, not a default.
It means thinking beyond WhatsApp. Using tools where data stays protected. Where people can see who they’re connecting with, why, and how.
And it means being honest: are you trying to facilitate relationships, or are you just avoiding real community work by hoping volume solves it?
You Don’t Need Everyone - You Need Trust
Great events don’t rely on frictionless spam. They rely on permission-based trust.
Because trust compounds. One good conversation beats a thousand forced connections.
So next time you’re tempted to “just add everyone,” stop.
Ask. Explain. Respect.
That’s how real networking works - and how real founders show up.
Here’s What to Think About Next…
Pull up your last event.
Was consent explicit - or implied?
Was the group optional - or automatic?
And if regulators walked in tomorrow, would your systems hold up - or fall apart?
Lead like you mean it.
Build like trust matters.
Because it does.