Getting to Know You ; Even During Your Brain's Vacations

My facebook page includes more than Scrabble. Oh yeah. It shows me to be a very complex person. I've even got a personal DNA badge to prove it.

Yes, groups & some future events are listed, and people have sent me virtual drinks or stopped by to  leave a message, or as facebook calls it, write on my "wall." And while the wall sounds juvenile, it works and although facebook remains a place to be found or connected with, applications like scrabble, the wall, friend wheel, etc let people get a more varied look at who we are

When hiring you, networking with you, befriending you, people are not just "buying" what you do. They are not just buying your product. They are in a very real way buying who you are first.

So showing them something - even if you think it's trite. Might not be the worst idea.

Should you show your underwear? Welllll - um - not me but depending on what your line of work is I suppose that works. Ask yourself if it's something you would want your prospective investor or mother in law to see? For now I'll stay with something more main stream.

Today for example you can see from my biorhythm blurb on fb that my brain cells are on a little vacation.

Could this be used by people to take advantage of me? Probably. Do I take it seriously - only a little - and when it's convenient to be a believer. It probably would more likely be used to understand why I'm misspelling words even with a spell checker. (Crossing fingers that's so)

What I take more seriously is the ability of facebook, Second Life, twitter, and a variety of other web 2.0 tools to let us get to "know" someone we otherwise only know in a virtual sense. Like talking to their best friend before a blind date, even the sillier applications in facebook - think of them as optional add-ons if you aren't familiar with them - let us see  images, ideas, and personalities behind a public name or face.

And maybe let us understand why their brain is off duty some days? Maybe yes; Maybe no.  But it lets us take their pulse in a way.

Ah, are we back to Susan's bla bla bla about "connecting" again? That's the idea.

What way do you use facebook or other applications to reach out casually or just delve into who someone is behind the name and face? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Comments

[Susan Reynolds]

It would be hard to find two more interesting people to connect to than Ann and Isabella. Spirited, insightful and more - but I wouldn't have ever known that about either if I'd have had to wade through emails to get to them.

Web 2.0 lets us "broadcast" to whoever wants to tune in - & I'm glad to tune in to them.

[isabella mori]

interestingly enough, i found you through an "outstanding women bloggers" list, only to notice that i've already come across you on twitter. i remember wanting to "follow" you but then something happened.

so that's one of the things i do. i hang out on twitter. figure out who has interesting things to say and then follow them. same thing with stumbleupon and to a lesser degree, 43things. i find that a bit harder to do on facebook - a bit too cookie cutter.

so for me it's all about whether someone piques my interest. then i make an appearance in their online lives, and once in a while it turns into a mutual thing, which is very satisfying. truly building community that way.

[Ann]

It's all a way to build a deeper connection. I can't tell you what the guy across the hall has done at the end of the day but I can tell you what my friends have been up to. I also know they are still around when I find a poke in my direction...today was my first video poke and both of them put me into a fit of laughter.

It shows personality, it shows fun--and that's the best part of this web 2.0 stuff for me, adding a little joy to life!