Expand your social network

When I began “social networking” more than a year ago, I did so in a way that might seem backwards to most people. Rather than creating a network of people I already knew, I found people I did not know that I had common interests with.
For example, through Twitter, I found runners (I was training for a marathon), Leukemia and Lymphoma Society supporters (I was raising money while training as part of the Team in Training Program), writers (I am writing a novel) and technology geeks like myself which led to blogging for CJOnline.

I had a few people that I actually knew and would come to know, but for the most part my friends were people I had never met and most likely never would meet. I joined FaceBook to connect with a group of people whom I met at a national meeting a few months ago who use technology within professional associations. Association work is what I do for a living.

But a funny thing happened along the way. My sister asked me to be her friend. And then my mother. Then came a few people who grew up in my home town. Suddenly, my network of friends actually consists of real friends, not just people I have connected with in a professional sense. For me that has been a change and a good one. In just a very short time, I have reconnected with some friends I hadn’t talked to in a very long time. But as much as I missed out on the obvious, those that only connect with those they know might be missing out on something very important, which is expanding their network to people they do not know.

You see, there is a young lady in New Mexico who is battling leukemia that has rekindled a passion within me to run another marathon. I have gotten to know a runner in Florida who has a connection with the association world who has also participated in a Team in Training Marathon and donated to my fundraising campaign last year.

The contacts I have made in the association world have educated me in ways to enhance our communications at my work which have been successful. Those communication strategies have enhanced what I have done for our local Rotary club with its website and newsletter which has now led to serving on the communications committee at my church. These things may have never happened if not for the connections I made with the people I have never met.

So don’t limit yourself in the social networking world to those people you already know. It’s important to keep those relationships alive, but there is an exciting world out just waiting for you to join it. So take a leap and become friends with someone like you, even if they live clear across the country. That friendship might just be one that will change your life.