4-Part Series: Everything I Learned About Social Networking I Learned from my Mom and Dad
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There’s nothing like a family emergency to get you thinking. It my case a time of reflection and writing does the trick to help me process. Spending time with my family this week reminded me how lucky I am and how the lessons my parents taught translate directly to my approach and use of social networks.
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PART ONE: Wherever you go in the world, you’ll always find a connection to the Illinois Valley
If you follow or friend me online, you probably know that I grew up in a relatively small town. It’s one of those places where everyone knows everyone else and where you have to make sure you’re not related to someone before dating them (just kidding, kind of).
Old school social networking.
My mom always told us that no matter where you traveled, you were bound to see someone or meet someone with a connection to our hometown. I had no reason not to believe my mom since she somehow managed to find these people no matter where we.
There’s even a favorite story about a friend of my parents who was a diplomat in Africa. One day his children were playing at their school and they saw a classmate (from Africa) who had a t-shirt on from a local diner in our town. How could that be? After some follow up they discovered this child’s father met someone else from our town when he was traveling.
What has this taught me?
My mother taught me, before the days of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, that we are all connected. The way you treat people and the decisions you make have greater (and long lasting) implications. Even though it’s a small town, the relationships do not only remain there.
How does that translate to social networking?
- Don’t look at your network as a confined group of people with a limited reach. No matter the size of your online network, you potentially have access to countless individuals (everyone in your network has their own network and so on).
- Think about how fast information travels today (I mean really think about it). News can reach hundreds, thousands, even millions quickly.
- We have the ability to meet people from all over the world. Social networking has offered us a global gift to learn from and meet others we may not have otherwise. If this post has taught you nothing else, remember that these people, as unlikely as it may be, could have connections back to you that you are unaware of.
- It’s a small world after all.
I now tell my mother that wherever I go I always find someone from Twitter. 
8 Comments on this post
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Cassie said:
This is totally true! I am from a small town as well and I am always bumping into people! looking forward to seeing the rest of the story!
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:06 pm -
Jamie Favreau said:
I totally agree! We can connect with people we might not have before. Social networking is great because you have some type of relationship before you meet them live.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:09 pm -
Ceramic tiles - tile said:
I am totally agree with you about the social networking because social relation is the basic idea of the social networking.
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:50 am -
Jessie said:
This is a great piece!
Social network has given those shy and non-social individuals a voice. We are in turn doing what our parents have always told us, ‘go out there and make some friends’
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:43 am -
Seo83 said:
Sarah your family picture looking very nice. Social networking is the best way to achieve success in every field. Keep updating like that.
July 5th, 2009 at 5:06 pm -
Leather Living Room Furniture said:
Publishing a news in Social Networking is better than publishing news through Press release. Thanks for taking time to write this article.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:50 am -
NJ Work Injury Lawyer said:
As always a very thoughtful post. It doesn’t surprise me that Twitter is too noisy, and abbreviated for you since you put so much into each daily blog post. The time of an in-depth post and Twitter activity would absorb your entire day.
That said, don’t tweets at times remind you of everyone talking over each other at a large family reunion or a conference floor? It provides a unique forum to swap between conversations seamlessly; of course that too could drive some people crazy.
For business the value has been positive but tangential to this point. It has lead me to some great articles/insights and is starting to broaden my network. However, a few recent requests have fallen flat so I may have to broaden some more.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:49 am -
For Sale Cheap said:
Pure class all the way. thanks very much
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:09 am
