Online communities

2/14/08 Online communities

I recently started using blogs and online networking communities, like Facebook and Linkedin. Up until now I haven’t used networking groups or blogs to reach out and communicate with others on a regular basis. Learning to use these online services was a bit tricky and one flub was to press the ‘send an invitation to’ button to hundreds instead of my intended few contacts. That’s a mistake I hope not to repeat in the near future!

That’s a lotsa of people.

On Yahoos e-mail you have to add people to your address book so that their e-mails won’t go into your Bulk folder so I had many kinds of contacts there – and they all got my invitation

Some people who I don’t think I even know personally, replied that yes, they would join my ‘friends’ group. Why???? I was kind of embarrassed that I didn’t remember them. Others replied, “Do I know you”? Eeek. After searching for our common interest, I found I had worked with some and others were acquaintances of acquaintances. A lot of people I just had to admit, I didn’t really remember. And then there was a reply from a person I knew only casually from another group that I belong. We’ve seen each other at conferences and gatherings but rarely shared conversation. He’s a lot older than I am and he’s kind of ornery and cantankerous--and if I remember correctly, he drank a lot when I last saw him (I brought the beer). I looked at his reply to my invitation to join my online group and at that moment knew that today was a good day to be alive. His reply struck me with a feeling of just plain goodness. He had written.


“Gary, thanks for considering me a friend”.