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.

‘Cause You’ve Got…Personality!

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Lloyd Price once sang his desire to behave like a fool “O-o-over an’ over”, opening admitting to it. His message was heard by millions. Nowadays, we don’t have to have a hit record to be heard by the masses.

And we’ve all got something to talk about! Mind boggling, isn’t it? So what are you contributing to the mix?

Some time ago, a research study suggested that a large portion of the content on Twitter is “babble”; what IS that, anyway? Well, the Merriam-Webster dictionary states: “wordy and generally unintelligible jargon”.  Hmmm. So I set out to find some prime examples (account names removed to protect the innocent):

• Could you fill out my resume for me... while I hit it from the back?


• People run past my window all day long. I watch them go by but I never get any thinner. I guess it doesn't work that way. Sigh......


• 2 females were sitting at a table & they didn't gossip the whole time...who got this joke?


• what was will be..... what is will be nomore


• You can loose everything but you can NEVER loose your character...BUILD IT !!

While not really making sense, they are however, part of those Tweep’s personalities. Now think of how you display your personality as a small business owner, blogger, or perhaps as someone who just enjoys being connected on Twitter:

• If you’re a business, does your Twitter bio contain info on what your business is?

• Does your Twitter bio contain info on what your passions are so that people gain insight as to what you’re usually tweeting about?

• Do all of your tweets make sense to the casual observer?

• Is everything spelled correctly? One of the examples used "loose" instead of “lose”, changing the tweet's meaning and making her appear less bright than she may be.

• Is your grammar correct? Sure, you can take liberties with the limitation of characters, but it should always be an easy to comprehend tweet.

• Do you converse with those who share your passions?

• Can people see you smiling through your tweets? Positive energy will take you places!





And a few thoughts on what not to do when displaying your personality:

• If you’re having a bad day, don’t tweet about it. (see example above regarding the gent who doesn’t get thinner; would you respond to his tweet?)

• If you’re a big cursor when you’re alone, that’s one thing, but consider it a part of your personality that should remain private and keep those words off your tweets.

• Having personality does not mean tweeting every move you make in every moment of the day. Keep it to a few highlights that would be interesting enough to open up a conversation.

• Don’t selling your product or service by tweeting about it. No personality there! That’s spam. And besides, Twitter is not a sales tool.

• Getting into an argument with someone on Twitter is not going to fare well on your personality overall. People do forget quickly and move on; but why open up that can of worms? Move to direct messaging and leave the public forum to settle it.

♫

So what have you got?
Walk (with personality)
Talk (with personality)
Smile (with personality)
Charm (with personality)
Love (with personality)
An' plus you got a great big heart…

♫

By now you’ve probably got the idea. The challenge is to reflect who you are on Twitter while remaining confined to the limitations it has. Let your personality shine through via your tweets; your followers will pick up on your vibe and are more likely to respond and retweet you.
Speaking of vibe, click here for the song that inspired this post.