You can either approach this small-scale (you want to actually <i>know</i> the people in your network) or large-scale (you want millions of readers/twitter followers, etc).<p>For small-scale:<p>* Industry talks and conferences -- it's very common for tech companies to give talks or even conferences. An information security / pentesting consultant company held an event where some of their employees presented research that they were taking to a larger conference. From their side, it was for marketing reasons, but this was kept out of their presentations completely (which focused entirely on their work). From my side, I got to spend a fun few hours being wined and dined (for free) and got to chat to some interesting people in the coffee breaks about their work. We still keep in touch. Pros: smaller groups of people who probably share interests with you (you chose the same event). Cons: It's a bit harder to find out about events like these, but definitely possible if you keep your eyes and mind open.<p>* Reach out to people who used to be in your network -- university professors, old colleagues, etc. They have surprisingly good memories, and probably won't be at all unhappy to get a quick update from you. They might even mention some opportunities ;)<p>* Make stuff -- even if it's small, such as a blog post or a useful script, it's probably enough to get a few people to notice you, and perhaps one or two to follow you on Twitter or email you and ask you for help with debugging<p>For large-scale:<p>* Give people free stuff in return for an email address. Spam them (even if it's not a lot of emails, it's super targeted and you'll get results). Follow people on Twitter, and DM them with offers with free stuff (video, white paper, blog post). Some will react badly (like most of the HN crowd, including me) and report you as spam, block you, unfollow you. A majority of people will lap it up and your 'network' will grow exponentially. [Note: I haven't really tried this myself, but as an experiment I created a Twitter account and started tweeting cheap motivational bullshit. I gained followers pretty quickly and saw how the marketers with hundreds of thousands of readers operated as they were amongst the first to notice my bullsh.t account. Unfortunately what they were doing was working].<p>In either case, remember that there are a lot of people looking to grow their networks because having a large network is beneficial, so they look for other people who can <i>provide value</i> and network with them. Instead of being one of these people, and focusing on what your network can do for you, rather focus on the value you can provide to others, and then give it to them. The network will flock to you.