Using Social Media to Reconnect

It seems funny to me that in this day and age where everything is designed to make it easier for us to communicate with one another we still lose track of people in our lives. Makes me wonder exactly what it takes to stay in touch with people.

I'm on Facebook, LinkedIn and Active Rain. I am not on MySpace nor do I plan to be on MySpace. That is my personal preference and I will not bore you with why I make that choice. Facebook is where I have been spending the most of my time recently and I have found several high school friends there. Now I have not seen or heard from these people in over twenty five years.... with just a few clicks of the mouse and keyboard I am now connected to them...or am I?

What does social media really offer in the way of reconnecting? I offer that it is simply a vehicle that allows us to make the effort to reach out and say "Hello, how are you?" From there it really is up to the individuals to make an effort to stay in touch. So on that level it does succeed. Where it does not is that many of us simply post our profiles and then think the work is done. The platforms simply want eyeballs to sell advertising to make money. The more profiles completed the more potential advertising revenues. The media sites are not the answer to staying connected. They are simply a tool in the social persons toolbox.

Staying connected means having an interest in the person or persons you are trying to connect with. Without common interests one will simply drift away from the same people you so easily found online. The people I have started reconnecting with online were once friends and some of them were very good friends. Do we have anything in common anymore? I honestly do not know. Only time and effort will tell. I do know that I am happy to be using online social media as a tool in my toolbox. It is not going to do the work for me it will require me to pick up the phone and get in touch. It will require me to make myself available to meet up and say hello face to face. Without my efforts social media will simply fail.

On a professional level social media sites are great to help stay in front of people who might use or are currently using your services. My profiles on these sites are visited several times a day and I have fielded many inquires about my real estate services from people who have found me online. Moving forward I intend to keep my profiles online up to date and full of as much information as necessary to encourage potential clients to contact me for assistance in buying or selling their next home or investment property.

More thoughts later... time to hang out with the kids....

Best,

Scott

Two years later.....

It's been two years since I last posted anything on this blog. Tonight I have decided to begin again my blogging on topics in my personal life. My professional life is well documented on my websites and blogs located elsewhere... Look me up if you want to know what is going on in my professional life. Click here for starters.

In the past two years many things have changed. I am still selling real estate and I am thrilled to be working as a real estate advisor. It's a challenging market but I am still doing enough business to keep the lights on and the kids fed.

Speaking of kids......MacKenzie is now living with me. She decided this past summer that she wanted to move back to Washington and go to high school here. She is currently a freshman at Stadium High School. Nick is a senior at Stadium and will be graduating this year.

I am no longer married. Regretfully some decisions in life do not work out the way you hope. My marriage is one of those decisions. I will not waste your time with the details....

I have been reconnecting with many of my old friends and co-workers. It is amazing how many people you lose contact with through the years. I have been using Facebook for a couple of months now. I have reconnected with several of my high school friends. I am looking forward to actually getting together with some of them. It's been way too long. Many of my past co-workers in corporate America and I have been spending more time together. I am grateful that I am no longer a wage slave. Trading a steady paycheck and health benefits for my time no longer has any attraction to me. Sure it's tough to make a go of it on a 100% commission business but the upside is that I control my time and I control my income. If I want to make more I can. That to me is simply vital. Many of my former co-workers are coming to this realization as well. 2009 looks to be the year that many of us realize that our lives are our own and we need to run them as we see fit. There is no one path for all of us. I just hope that more of us will look to find the path that is right for us.

I will close to tonight with simple request for anyone that might read this. I wish you all the best and I hope that you will enjoy your life to the fullest.

Best wishes,

Scott