I never had been what you would call, `a
joiner.' As a matter of fact, I think you
could sum up my view on social networking by quoting the great Groucho Marx who
once said, "I'd never join a club that would allow
a person like me to become a member." But join I did…kind of. After being pressured
by my kids, my agent and my business associates I opened an account in Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn. Then I proceeded to do nothing with any of these networking sites.
In my defense, I was somewhat jaded by the new `friends' of mine who were
posting away. I'd occasionally drop by one of my
social networking accounts and be greeted by earthshaking news like: Today I had the
best bowl of cereal ever! Have you ever seen the
`s' in the winter time? Why do butterflies have wings? Now maybe it's just me, but I had
no idea why this would be important to me…
and I have no idea why butterflies have wings! I just didn't get it. Besides, the only real
contacts my miniscule social networking had
brought me were two of the three singers from my
high school barbershop quartet. No, I was what you might call an `Antisocial Networker' and
proud of it. That was of course until the year
2009. In 2009, an economic storm hit that many of us were unprepared for. My business, tied,
not only to training budgets, but travel, and the financial industry, was in the eye of the
storm. I went from a business that had me booked out three to four months in advance for
over 16 years to hustling for business like
everyone else. Oh, and my carefully groomed social network was nonexistent. It seems that
while business was good, I had unconsciously
adapted the belief that business would always be
good, and there was no need to take socially networking seriously. |
