Social Networking Really Works

I have a new friend—not only a Facebook friend but an actual, talk-to-on-the-phone friend. Her name is Grace Bower, and she lives in New Zealand. It's not every day that I answer the phone and hear a totally unfamiliar accent—a little like Australia or South Africa yet completely different.

Grace read a comment on Facebook that mentioned something I had written. She looked up my Website and called me. Amazing! I had written about a book called Life is a Verb by Patti Digh. Patti responded (who knew?), obviously having better Google Alerts than I do. So, now we are a circle, Grace, Patti, and I.

I have never actually talked to Patti, though I want to buy her book for everyone I know. But I have talked to Grace, who is caring, considerate, and compassionate. I have a feeling many people feel that way about her.

That's what social networking is all about: reaching out, connecting, engaging. It's not just a theory; it's the real thing. You never know when a new friend is going to show up.

THINK before you hit "publish"

Being a savvy Internet user, I know that Feedburner "provides custom RSS feeds and management tools to bloggers, podcasters, and other web-based content publishers." (I found that definition on Wikipedia) This is a very good thing if one wants to reach a vast readership, which I do. So, after much trial and error, I finally figured out how to use Feedburner to forward my blogs to various Websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and BlogCatalog.

This means millions of potential readers—500 million on Facebook alone! Is that fantastic or what? Well, on one hand, it is every blogger's dream to have such a huge audience. But on the other hand, consider "or what."

Let's say something is driving me crazy—the way Congress is behaving, perhaps. That is definitely one of my favorite subjects for a rant. So, I write a scathing post, check the spelling and punctuation, and hit the publish button. Immediately, millions upon millions of people will know I am not happy with Congress right now. But what exactly did I say?

I view the blog post and must admit I came on a little strong. Maybe I could soften it a bit. Well, no, I can't. It's too late to rethink my pearls of wisdom when they are instantaneously soaring through cyberspace. They are out there, published, and very public.

Whoops. Maybe I should put a little note to self on my computer. It will simply ask "Do you really want 500 million people to read this?" No? Then, do not under any circumstances hit the publish button!

Request for Rebuttal

OK, I agree: that last post on loss was pretty much a downer. I didn't mean it to be. I was just musing about life, and that's what popped up on the radar screen ... well, the computer screen, actually. My sister has pointed out to me that when most people have a thought, it's just a thought; when I have a thought, it becomes a blog post. What I tend to forget is that, if it is a blog post, it will show up on Facebook.

That's fine if what I write is entertaining or educational or erudite. Not so fine if it's going to make you run for the bottle of Prozak. So, here is something positive for those of you who are checking Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or Amazon this evening.

In case you thought John Wayne was just a cowboy who didn't say much, here is something he said that may surprise you: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

Wow. I love that!