Online Reality Check

One of the best things about the online world is the ability to connect with people who you may not always have the ability to connect with. For me, this means thought leaders in the social media space such as Chris Brogan, Brian Solis and many others whose blogs and Twitter handles I keep an eye on.

This constant interaction can give you a false sense of security that you are actually connected to these people and they care about what you do.

This may be the case eventually, but it takes effort to utilize this connection online to turn it into something more. This became evident this past weekend when I celebrated my 28th birthday.

What happened you ask? Well I received a reality check that I haven't cultivated these relationships enough. I was able to see this because despite being connected through a variety of mediums, not one of them wished me a Happy Birthday. So I started to think about it and decided I had two options. I could either get pissed and give up on my online connections and ignore them, or I could step back and take a look at how I can improve these connections so that next year, hopefully I would have done my job and I will receive some good wishes.

My next step then was to determine how I can improve these relationships. So here is my action plan between now and next April to help improve my network connection values.

• Comment More:This is a simple task that should add another ten minutes to my day, but can pay huge rewards. The more I comment and leave insightful comments the more I am likely to be noticed by not only the blogger themselves but by the bloggers other readers.
• Update More Frequently:One of the best ways to find more people to connect with is through Twitter. However, to increase my followers, I need to provide some sort of value to them. One way to do this is to provide more updates.
• Network more offline:This is probably the hardest step for me to accomplish because I am not what you would consider an outgoing person. I usually have to warm up to you before I can chat your ear off. I need to improve my small talk skills to make introductions with meaning instead of empty conversations.
• Follow Up:This is a combination of the three steps above but basically it just means that when I do make that new connection either offline or online, I follow up and let them know that I value their connection.

If I follow these four steps I hopefully will not only increase the number of friends that I have online but also the value of each relationship I have with them.