You Don’t Know Me…

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Last time I checked I was still a nice person: If you fall, I’ll pick you up, heck, and I’ll bend over backwards to help my friends. However, there are limitations, especially when it comes to social media. I view the word friend in a more traditional sense; one definition states: 

a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

Now, when it comes to Twitter, I’ve got an open attitude and will follow most folks back. I believe in giving tweeps an opportunity to get to know me. 

Seems that lately though newbies immediately start asking me to:

• Listen to their new song

• Retweet something that I know nothing about or have no interest in

• Tweet at me to follow them back 

These communications arrived via both Direct Messages and Tweets. Now, I’m all for retweeting and sharing worthwhile things IF I know you. Think about it; do you retweet “just anything” without knowing something about the person? 

An example. A new follower (let’s call her Annie) claims she has “Bon Jovi” tapes and would I Retweet the message to get to the fans? I don’t know what she has! Her icon is a picture of a cassette with a CD behind it. There is no URL on her profile. Who ARE you, Annie?

Here’s another example; it's a bit more on the bizarre side.  Received this tweet:

hello.i'm checking u out..U ever talk about ancient knowledge or conspiracies? Whats your thing

I tweeted back, suggesting they read my bio. Then this tweet came back:

I'm selective.Would U tweet some humanity videos i send u that should go viral time to time? I'm on a mission

A mission, huh? A mission to target people you don’t know to spread the word of who-knows-what? What ever happened to credibility? And trust? Did we skip that part? This would be similar to someone coming up to you at a huge party and saying “Would you mind telling those people over there about my theories of ancient knowledge and conspiracies?

Before I had time to reply because the next tweet blew in:

since i'm a pain lol..i'll unfollow and if you say yes i'll follow back.. hehe my humanity mission..either way i wish u well

Now, what would YOU do in a situation like this? To be “investigatively” fair, I followed the link on this tweep’s profile page. And there, I found a YouTube channel with titles such as “Parasites Inside You”, “Congressman Ron Paul’s Farewell Speech” and “US, Europe complicit in Israeli Crimes”. Uh, not my cup of tea.

Lessons Learned: While it’s generally okay to follow someone on Twitter, do you really know who they are? Sure there are lots of fake profiles however they’re not the ones that are going to spew strong opinions and wackiness at you! And, would you be willing to be Facebook friends with this person without the blink of an eye too? Sure, some people wouldn’t give it a second thought. 

Food for thought: You want to meet me? Tweet me! Get to know me and I'll be happy to support you. 

Swedish singer Lykke Li sang about following in this recent tune (see below). And of course, you are more than welcome to follow me on Twitter, like my Facebook page, circle my page on Google+ or visit the website. 

Friends and Followers: Who ARE These People?

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In Real Life. It’s a bonus attribute in a friendship nowadays. There are folks I know that I feel comfortable with and have conversed with for years, yet I haven’t met them. 

You probably have some too. Some may progress from social networking with you to the telephone. In my experiences, this doesn’t occur all that often but it’s delightful when it does. A common interest usually jump starts it; it’s been both business-related and personal for me.

I’m just back from a vacation where I traveled a few thousand miles from home. I did keep up with social media so you didn’t even notice I was on the move, and I’m thrilled to say that I had the pleasure of meeting several friends for the first time! Note: Some names are changed.

Lunch with Janice was quick and too short. She looked like her pictures and her personality was just as she projects it via social media. Have known her three or four years; initially meeting on a health-related social network. From there we branched out to Twitter, then Facebook, and we support each other’s blogs. Janices’s choice of restaurant turned out to be exotic and delicious!

From Ally's Garden

Next stop was Ally who lives in the same area as Janice. Ally is the real deal. She’s as funny and bright as she is on Facebook, where I met her several months ago after having a lengthy conversation on a mutual friend’s wall. Highly creative, her design savvy was reflected inside and outside of the charming home she lives in. Her dog growled and wouldn’t come close but he sure looked cute! 

A groovy place to have coffee!

Two days later, I met Vivian. She is also a creative type, a fine artist. She and I met on Twitter several years ago. She expressed reservations about meeting me; apparently, this was a new concept to her. On the phone prior to our meeting she asked “Is this really okay to do?” I assured her that I do not bite. At a very tasty flatbread pizza restaurant, then later for coffee elsewhere we talked about lots of cool stuff, including how our friendship started on Twitter and how I came to her defense when someone tweeted blunt criticism about her art.  

Pretty kitty!

And last but not least is Paul. I met Paul when I shouted out for guest bloggers for my Groovy Reflections blog. Paul stepped up and hasn’t stopped writing since. He then became my first admin for the Groovy Reflections Facebook page. And he is still doing just that as well as many other duties for Groovy Reflections. I was honored to stay in his home for two days and meet the Mrs. and the cat (both are my friends on Facebook too).  

I also visited with relatives too during my travels, however, I'm certain you don’t want to hear about that!

The point is: The definition of friendship has perhaps evolved a bit. Friendships can be carried out in a non-physical fashion. I’ve actually struggled with this thought for a few years, but have come to the understanding that friendship is virtually embraceable.

Is this going to put less of a priority on physically meeting people? No.

Looking forward to meeting many more of you in the future!

Elton John sang "If your friends are there, then everything's allright." in this beautiful ballad from early in his career. And if you are feeling friendly, stop by the website, or our Twitter, Facebook, or Google+accounts and say hello.