MY Social Media Birthday
Jeff Pulver was one of the first people yesterday morning to wish me a Happy Social Media Birthday, very appropriate. Jeff, of course, wrote a wonderful post a short time ago concerning his own Social media Birthday. I’m not going to go into details of all of the wonderful emails, Twitters and Facebook Wall Posts that came my way yesterday. Rather, I want to talk about the face-to-face interactions that happened yesterday morning at Social Media Breakfast 2.
As most of you know, SMB was created last month by Bryan Person, and it has already been a success. I couldn’t make it to the first breakfast and was looking forward to yesterday’s meet up. I knew that most of the people at the breakfast would be folks I’ve been talking with for several months now, yet had never met face-to-face.
I’m not the best at ‘networking’; I wouldn’t call my self shy in any way, but I’m also not an overly extroverted personality. Typically I’m wee bit nervous at these types of events, envisioning myself sitting in the corner, muttering to myself, reliving most lunch periods in sixth grade (minus the pegged pants and mullet, obviously). However, walking into the breakfast yesterday there were not “birds in my belly” and I actually paused, wondering why. The reason was simple. I was going to see people I already knew shared many of my professional passions, some of my personal ones…I was going into a room filled with a tight knit group, not strangers.
This is the power of social media:
–It uses technology to enable a conversation between people from disparate parts of the globe or right next door.
–This conversation establishes a relationship, on some level.
–The conversation is naturally extended offline.
–Off line engagement brings with it an even more established relationship…
This is the reason my clients are using social media. They want to establish a more concrete relationship with their customers, in a forum that enables conversation and engagement. As I met people in “3D” it occurred to me that this establishment of conversation is why I’m so passionate about the practice of social media, and that was a great gift on my first Social Media Birthday.
For some good coverage of the SMB2 check out:
Julia Roy
David Cutler
Sarah Wurrey
Amanda Gravel
/kff
October 4th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Kyle - I’m the same way! Well actually I guess I am kind of an extrovert, but even so going to events for business networking purposes can be nerve wracking. But I don’t feel that way at social media events, because I already know many of the people already, even if we hadn’t met in person.
I felt totally comfortable talking to you, Scott Monty, and many other online friends I’d yet to meet in “3D” yesterday morning. It truly is what makes this medium special.
October 5th, 2007 at 7:18 am
[…] I literally crossed a finish line of great importance, to me:While Wednesday I got to experience my first social media birthday. Good stuff all around. Let’s wrap up the week with a quick look at the stories that drew my […]
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 am
[…] More than a year ago we met, and at first we both were a bit nervous, interacting every now and again. We had both been hurt in the past and we didn’t want it to happen again. Our summer was exciting and as we entered the fall our relationship really hit overdrive. Everyday, sometimes all day, it was you and me. Intense? Certainly. But it was all such a positive experience, helping to lead me to expand my own social media lifestyle. […]