Social Media and Being Social

I'd really like to hear from others about their experiences on social networks, so I'll just start with my own!

Are you a social network-aholic on all the sites? Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, micro social networking sites, etc are all the newest thing and all are growing at great intensity. I am an admitted addict to Twitter! At first, it was Facebook until all the MLM'ers decided it was their video playground instead of using You Tube and My Space.


Personally, I love the interaction of thoughts, humor and genuine positive-ness Twitter provides. Some days, it's a sort of stream of consciousness; others there are specific things addressed.

It's great to be in a social network, creating a presence, voicing your interests & making friends, however what are you achieving while reaching for your new friends/followers? Simply adding your site's link to your posts isn't really achieving the results you were after except that you have the ability to do so. Most of us are looking for value and making a real relationship between you and another person creates value.


For me, it's a great place to know what people are doing in the big wide world, learn new things, finding a place of common interests. With that said, I like to take it to the next level to reach out to those located in my local geographical area.


My philosophy is not to sell you anything other than who I am and my value to you as a person. I prefer to sell, if I must use "sell", my services once you know more about me and I know more about you. The saying "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" is one that resonates with me, as my service is of no value to you if you don't have a need for it. So, why should I push at you, thereby alienating you as someone I might really want to know genuinely as a friend?


I do want to really network with my new connections and know them as real people with real ideas and goals. Yes, we can get added value from our daily web interaction; wasn't that the real reason you joined in the streams of conversation on your preferred network? If so, cultivate the seed you've grown and appreciate the great people you've met!


It's clear many of us want to find more people to help us grow our business, further our causes or the ability to reaffirm our humanity. Even if your business or cause or needs can be done from the Internet without ever seeing another living person, isn't nice to go out and meet real people and establish your sincerity in knowing them?


That's enough of my ranting...what's your experience?

TTFN!

Jax