The Power of Network - Online vs. Offline

116 days ago, BBC Gaza Correspondent Alan Johnston was abducted by a group called the Army of Islam on his way home. Since then, BBC World Service has started a worldwide campaign for this courageous journalist, both via radio & on the internet. Over the last 16 weeks, more than 200,000 of BBC listeners have signed the online petition, thousands more have added their comments to our Have Your Say website. This kind of support had inspired Alan both mentally and emotionally.

"The knowledge that so many people were showing their solidarity made Alan feel a duty to get through it to show their support was not misplaced. Typical Alan!" - BBC's world news editor Jon Williams shared about his colleague. Indeed, "for 14 of his 16 weeks in captivity, Alan had access to the BBC World Service. The messages from the listeners were an enormous source of strength - particularly those from former hostages like Terry Waite, John McCarthy and Brian Keenan."

After his release on early morining July 4, Alan was handed over to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza City. Britain said the group had played a key role in his release. Now people see the synergy of both the online & real world networking powers. Missing either one, it could be a totally different scenario. Alan's first word was "just unimaginably good to be free" after 114 days in captivity in Gaza. For us "who have not been a prisoner of some kind, for some time, it's a bit difficult to understand how good it is just to be able to do the basic things that freedom allows." A big relief to see the nightmare ends and an eventful day for Mr. Graham Johnston, Alan's father, as he waved to cheers and applause from the audience and he picked up the radio journalism award on his son's behalf from Amnesty International , recognising excellence in human rights reporting.

Now the discussion continues as people started to question the motive & hidden agenda of Hamas group which will carry on for some time. Looking at the power of network, both online & offline, I can't help thinking of our gathering this week where 17 future Chinse MBA students or partners in Singapore met up to share with one another. We will go all over the place, Chicago, Michigan, UCLA, INSEAD, Cheung Kong, MIT, etc. How could this happen? Some of us were met on the forum http://www.chasedream.com/, some were invited by friends. Another example of the synergy of online & offline networkings. Blend them well, have a good balance, you can achieve the maximized power of network!