Social Media: Oh, the People You Meet!

Tweet

Dr. Seuss wrote about the places you’ll go. And we sure travel around a lot via social media. It gets overwhelming at times too. Hey, 
I’m hopping from Facebook to Twitter to Google+ to Pinterest to LinkedIn all day. I get dizzy from it all; don’t you? We’re all “going places” and uber-multi-tasking.


So I tend to forget. A lot. Or so it seems. And one thing I’d like to bring up in particular happens to be in the social media realm. 


Introductions.


This happens to me a lot on Twitter; it never occurs to me that I have followers that I tweet with often that have common interests and then …bam! One of them sees a RT by me from a follower, and they jump in and say hello to them. 


This is great! I feel happy for them and a little stupid at the same time (slaps forehead); why didn’t I think of hooking them up? Why didn’t I notice that they both are into NASCAR?


Oh, but this has happened to me so many times. And I can't think of a thing that rhymes.


So, the following advice is for both for me and for you: 


Pay attention to what your closest tweeps are into! 


A relationship on Twitter goes beyond a #followfriday greeting. Find something to discuss with them.


Use lists to categorize interests. While I’m not a super big NASCAR fan and haven’t been a spectator of any races in recent years, I would enjoy going. I DO dig cars, having worked in the automotive industry for many years (and I still do projects in that industry and doing one currently). 


This is in addition to creating lists for YOUR favorite categories of course. I DO have a few of those, both public and private ones. 
Creating more lists and putting people into them will enlighten you to people that share common interests. Next step: Introduce them. 


Now, I don’t know what the proper etiquette is for introduction, but the most formal could be:


You both enjoy NASCAR! @cheerytomatopie meet @gladtobeSunny  …@gladtobeSunny meet @cheerytomatopie  


Or maybe Retweeting and adding a comment:


RT @cheerytomatopie my latest blog on NASCAR www.bit.ly.xxxxx -- @gladtobeSunny check out what Mary wrote about and say hello!


And hopefully they hook up on their own that way. And that’s easier to just pass it along as you see it! 


For those of you considering starting lists to better know your tweeps, click here for more info on that subject. 


Note: Those are not actual Twitter accounts in the examples. Oh, you already checked?


Create a Twitter list
It's easier than making a fist
Do it while doin' the twist
I'm sure you'll get the gist.


In closing, I’d leave you with a quote from Dr. Seuss. It’s a bit more extreme than merely becoming friends, but it fits here as well. And I do happen to know of a few romances that started on Twitter but I’m keeping those tales private. Oh, and ...say hello! There's the website, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ ...I'll say Hi back.