Our Growing Shrinking World

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday, and when I got up and logged on to Facebook to write birthday wishes on her wall, I discovered that I had been beaten to the punch (at 7 a.m.!!) by a dozen people. And many of those people were folks that she doesn’t really even know that well.

You see, I’m the one who lives in the online world. Becky is not on Twitter and is only a moderate user of Facebook. And while I’ve met a lot of people online who have become friends, she is slow to friend people on Facebook unless she really knows them. Consequently, I live in a much “larger” social world than she does. But many of my friends have met her and have friended her on Facebook. And of the dozen people who wished her a “Happy Birthday” before I got the chance, about half of them fall into that category. And throughout the day there were plenty more wishes from friends both old and new. Thrown into the mix were well wishes from people with whom we went to college, as well as friends from other parts of the country.

With Social Media, our world is expanding.

We have access to so many more people who can become our friends, both online and in person.

We have the ability to connect and reconnect with old friends in a way that never would have been possible a decade ago.

And the simple act of noticing on Facebook that a friend has a birthday, and then wishing them a “happy birthday” can be a very warm and thoughtful act. Even if you don’t know the person all that well. People like to feel loved. They like to know that someone cares.

After all, these people didn’t have to wish my wife a happy birthday. But they did, and this simple little act made her feel good.

Our world is growing, but it’s also shrinking. And therein lies the power of Social Media: connections.

It’s this concept that keeps me excited about the possibilities of inbound marketing and Social Media. No hard sell, just friends relating to other friends.

Remember: when you log in to Facebook, check which of your friends might be having a birthday, and then let them know you are thinking about them by simply writing well wishes on their wall.

Tagged as: Birthday, facebook, Online Communities, Social Media, Social network, Twitter