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Friday, February 25, 2011

Got Social Media?


For me, social media has mostly been about making connections, with people I've never met, and wouldn't have met without social media. I've also had opportunities, that wouldn't come knocking on my door had it not been for blogging, Twitter, Facebook ...

With Facebook, I've reconnected with friends from high school, I haven't seen since we've graduated almost 25 years ago. I'm also able to stay connected with cousins I don't see very often.

Several years ago, I tried to find one of my former students. I called the number that was still in her file. Of course the number was no longer working. I asked sorority sisters of hers if they'd heard from her. Again, I came up empty handed. No one had heard from her in years.

A few months ago, I had this great idea... find her on Facebook. But I couldn't remember her married name. One night while in bed, it hit me. I remembered her husband's last name. The next day I started looking for her. And didn't find her.

About a month later, I tried again, using her maiden name. Several women with the same name came up. None of the pictures looked like her. I clicked on a picture, that was a little foggy, and difficult to see. It was a vague picture, and initially thought that wasn't her either, and moved on.

A few minutes later I went back, searched her name again, clicking on that picture, one more time. I looked really good. It was her. Calling Mr. Husband in the room, I wanted him to confirm it was actually her. He agreed. I friend requested her, and left her a message with my phone number, and asked her to call.

The next day, a week, a month came and went without a response. Why hadn't she responded? Finally, I had waited long enough. I went to her Facebook account, and because she had not accepted me as a friend, I couldn't see her wall. But I could see who she was friends with. I left four of her friends messages, explaining who I was, and if they were personal friends of hers, ask her to check her inbox.

One of those friends I in-boxed, is her sister-in-law. A couple of hours later, I received a text message from her. That weekend we talked for more than two hours, catching up. We agreed to get together in the near future.

Many people think social media is the devil, and used only to start trouble. But the social media I know, is an awesome tool!

Do you have a feel good, or great opportunity gained social media story?

1 comments:

KCSherri said...

I got on Facebook 2 years ago, and I've been amazed at the people I've reconnected with...some of them friends from over FORTY years ago! Wow! As always, I think social media can be a powerful & useful tool if used the right way - its the people who abuse it or use it for nefarious purposes who give it a bad name! :)

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