On Friday, I attended the SM301 conference, and couldn’t help overhearing, over and over again, “I think we’ve met – I recognize you from your Twitter picture!” and “it’s great to finally put a name to a face and not just a Twitter handle.” I made connections in person (finally) with Liza Sperling and Rod Brooks, caught up with Tac Anderson before he disappears to London for two years (sniff), and realized that the brilliance of social media is that it allows you to connect with people you might never have known – and that the true value doesn’t reveal itself until you also actually connect offline with those people.
Mike Whitmore told a touching story about social media has changed his life and allowed him to bounce back from painful personal events, and I think his advice leads me to a broader observation about social media: that your goal should be to connect online to connect with people offline.
Here are a few ways that you can do this:
Take the next action and be human
The next time you’re clicking a link on Facebook to send someone a birthday hello on their wall, go ahead and do it (and then, send them a personal note or card to let them know that you’re thinking about them.) Or call someone and set a time to meet for coffee. or just do something that lets the other person know that you value their time and their connection. You never know what that will mean to the other person, but I guarantee that it will mean at least as much as it means to you.
Send a friend interesting information at an unexpected time
If you’re actively listening to your friends, you’ll also find out about things that matter to them. Wouldn’t it be cool if your friends sent you cool information (a link, an article, or a video) about a topic or interest that matters to you the next time they found it? (Yep, I think that would be cool too.)
If you send that “I’m thinking of you” link with a one or two-sentence description of why that content makes you think of that person, you’ll be on your way to becoming a valuable provider of interesting information (always a good thing.)
Go Out of Your Way To Help
We’ve all been in this situation: “can you help me to do x next Thursday/weekend/whenever?” and the first response that might go through your head is “mmmm. I’m not sure I want to do that.” When you go out of your way to help someone, you’ll feel good about it (and they will too.)
You can do all of these things online (and I’m sure you are already doing that) – and think of how much more meaningful it will be for you to take the same energy you’re investing in a RT, “like”, or “follow” and to show your friends that you’re thinking of them. You’ll be glad you did it, and they will be too.
Information Maven 
Greg–I discovered this to be true in Omaha. Really great experience to finally meet some of the people I’ve connected with online. And glad to meet you there too. 🙂
@Wendy – absolutely – it’s really cool now to know that the friendships that started online and continued offline can also continue online (and at whereever we meet next.)
Thanks for the comment!
–g
Go Greg! It’s so true. And thanks to your introductions, I have met many great folks- online and offline here in Austin, as well. One thing I do, is every Friday I call five people I haven’t heard from in a while. I don’t pitch anything, sell anything or ask for anything- I just call to connect and see what is new in their world. I love finding out what people are up to and calling on a Friday seems to work because everyone is winding down from the weel. Thanks for being such a great friend and connector!
Thanks for the tips Greg. I’m looking into other ways to connect offline, starting with a hand written post card. Nothing says “thank you” than a little effort 😉
Great post, and reminders Greg. At the end of the day, it’s all about the relationships in our life, and what we do to make each other stronger.