I'm having trouble finding much information and advice about networking letters?

I'm interested in developing contacts in a few different industries and areas of the country but do not need a job in these places in the immediate future. Should I continue looking into networking letters.





They would be more like student networking letters, even though I graduated a year and a half ago.





The thing is that I won't know any of the people who I plan on sending letters to, and since they will be in different geographic areas of the country I won't be able to do any ';information interviews.';I'm having trouble finding much information and advice about networking letters?
I don't see a lot of ';networking letters'; used these days. If these are people with whom you have something in common, you can send them an email. If you just might want something from them some day, you probably shouldn't bother them at a distance. You might do better to get onto something like LinkedIn.com (professional networking site) and contact people that way.I'm having trouble finding much information and advice about networking letters?
Join professional networking sites or joining groups based on you Degree and overall background. My g/f is in architecture and has joined different architecture groups in order to make contacts.