Bridging the Gap~Technology vs. Touch Experiment

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People make fun of me for being on Facebook. Aren’t you too old? Isn’t that like {horror} myspace?? How can Facebook bring you business? Well Facebook allows me to connect with people that I might have lost touch with. Or who I might not even talk to at the grocery store.

I know you… but I am going to pretend like I don’t

Ever had one of those situations where you see someone and you think you know them but you don’t want to say anything –you aren’t sure if it is really them– or even more likely, you know it is them but you are afraid they won’t remember you? Facebook seems to eliminate some of that fear, at least for me. I will add people to Facebook that I wouldn’t have said hello to in the grocery store. Safety behind the computer screen?

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I have decided to try an “experiment”. For every “friend” I have on Facebook, I would like to make some sort of low tech touch- phone call, face to face, even a little handwritten note. Throw off the safety belt and get real with real people. (This means no email, no text messaging!)

Getting Real with Real People

How about a phone call that goes like this:

Hey Sarah. thanks so much for adding me as a friend on Facebook. I am excited to connect with you this way. I haven’t chatted with you in a long time, so I thought I would call and just say hey and see what’s up.

I call it “bridging the gap” between 2.0 technique and traditional techniques of connecting with people. Using 2.0 techniques to connect with real people and then stepping beyond the safety of the computer screen to enhance and deepen existing relationships.

I am all set to start my experiment. Find someone on your Facebook (or LinkedIn, or other social networking spot) that you aren’t all that comfortable calling and find a way to connect “the old fashioned way”.

Care to join me?

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