This will be a brief update, as I already belong to a prodigious amount of the organizations mentioned (hurrah for student dues!). ALA and MLA are the ones I've had the most direct experience with, attending conferences and networking with professionals.
I think these conferences are great opportunities to make connections, provided:
1)You come equipped with some focused interests
2) You've done your research about who's in the field
3) You have plentiful snacks/water
Networking is personally a bit daunting to me; I have to work myself up to it, and I'm usually flat-out exhausted for the next day or two after a conference. But it can be rewarding; the current research project I'm working on now is a result of meeting some lovely people at a conference.
So, online networks are well and good, but thus far they haven't replaced the physical and personal connection that attending conferences and joining organizations can provide. Reality still wins.
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