Natiiv

The Happiest Business

Tagged network , socialmedia , twitter

Is your network across the street or across the world?

One of my favorite stories to tell about Twitter is from last summer. On a Thursday afternoon I was walking around Tel Aviv and twittered, "I'm in Tel Aviv this afternoon, does anyone want to get coffee?"

It wasn't long before my phone buzzed and I was making plans with Israeli pop star Ivri Lider. He met me at a cafe and we talked about music, RSS, America, Israel and Tel Aviv. The wait staff looked from his face to mine, trying to figure out why on earth Ivri came to see me.

It's a dramatic story, but shows people quickly how Twitter and social media sites flatten the world a bit. However, it is the other stories that better define social media for me and the ability to build a global network.

“The happiest business in all the world is that of making friends, And no investment on the street pays larger dividends, For life is more than stocks and bonds, and love than rate percent, And he who gives in friendship's name shall reap what he has.” Anonymous

I'm sitting in a cafe in Jerusalem, with a good friend that I met through blogging about 4 years ago. We were joined by a man who works for a start-up in Tel Aviv. I met the CEO last year after an introduction through a friend I know through social media. Last week in Tel Aviv, I sat down to dinner with my designer and programmer Idan Gazit - we met through our blogs and built a friendship on Twitter and Gtalk. The next night I had drinks with ten people, only two of whom I'd met in person before, but all were friends.

Social media tools, like Twitter, blogging, Flickr and video, allow us to expand our network from the people on our blocks to people around the world. I am connected not only to people in Chicago, but New York, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, and Tokyo. Other people in my field of work, people with similar interests, great photographers, and people I didn't know I needed to know.

For my clients, social media allows them to build networks before they arrive in a city when they are on tour. For Running on Heart, it meant communication with friends and family as they drive cross country. For I Fight Dragons, it means building the Advance Guard. For Billy Pacholski, it means serving clients around the world via web cam readings.

Social media is allowing people to build networks of like-minded people, of fans, of clients and of friends that are global. Even if we can't travel, we can build relationships that lead to powerful collaboration. What does your network look like now and how can social media help it grow?