A while ago, I realized that while Needle, Meet Haystack may be my personal view on things, it isn’t the only view. So every other Friday, you’ll be getting the chance to read some awesome guest posts from some truly excellent people – the Needle, Meet Haystack Guest Blogger Club.
Ashley Campbell blogs about careers, office politics, freelancing, generation gaps and more at Entry Level Observations. Professionally, she pulls double-duty as a social media strategist and freelance PR maven. In addition to contributing to the Great Idea Garage Sale with a piece on dealing with a job you hate. In her post today, she tackles the concept of social media friendships in the age of the new social contract:
——————————————————
I have a minor obsession with social media… That’s a good thing considering it’s quickly becoming my livelihood. I love social media for a lot of reasons: its power to transform a brand, the incredible ease at which information, advice and news is disseminated and, my personal favorite, the amazing connections one can make with people across the country and even across the world.
The relationships I’ve built over the past 7 months alone via social media are incredible. I’ve collaborated with a new friend in Australia, written guest posts for new friends in New York City, Oklahoma, next week California and of course right now I have the privilege of guest posting for the amazing and talented Mr. Andrew Weitsman in Arizona! I have made real friends who I talk with regularly online and I have even met and collaborated with people in my own city I would never have met otherwise. I basically have a brand new network of amazing people with whom I can share my life, bounce ideas off of, learn from and even get support from when I need it.
The crazy part about this is that besides the folks I’ve met in Kansas City through TweetUps and an incredible social media conference I attended a few months ago, I haven’t actually met anyone else in person. This brand new support system I’ve created is comprised mostly of people who I only know through their tweets, blog posts or instant messages and I think that’s way cool. Meanwhile, my mother, the lady who doesn’t trust the internet, is convinced these people want to cut my skin off and wear it like a suit…but I digress.
My point is that social media has the power to bring people together. Heck, if it weren’t for social media, I wouldn’t be friends with Andrew and this post wouldn’t even be happening! Some people (take ALL of my friends , for example) think social media means having a Facebook profile or that Twitter is lame because you just tell people what you’re doing all day long, but it’s so much more than that. Social media is about branding and sharing and learning and connecting!
I consider myself so very lucky to have met all of the amazing people I have in the past several months. My new network of online friends might be a tad unconventional, but I’ve never really been one for doing things by the book.
So this is my big “thank you for being a part of my life” to everyone I’ve never actually met in real life. You are fantastic and someday I think I’d like to party with you…
