Bringing it home: Social Networking on the Local Level
Are missing what’s right in your backyard? Many “social media” types (explorers I like to call them) are connected with peers across the country and around the world. That’s great! Connecting with people from different places, with different views is great way to learn new things and discover new possibilities.
What about the people in your city or neighborhood? The people in the lane next to you commuting to and from work, in the grocery store, at the ball game - these people are part of your local economy and community. You know, the one that affects your daily habits and your local career opportunities.
Are you connecting with this group? How many fellow Twitter users are there that you could be sharing info with? What common values and ideals could you leverage with them to do something bigger, something better? Have you looked for these folks, met with them, had coffee with them?
Now’s your chance to change that. Who says you aren’t the one to get the ball rolling? Search Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and the like for your local area and start making some local contacts. Seek your neighbors out, and find what interests them. Is there business opportunities, or civic needs, or groups aligned with your faith? Get out there and connect with these folks.
Even if you’re in a more rural area, getting to know fellow “social media explorers” in the area can allow you to plan. Going from a small town to a big-city meetup may be daunting alone, but if you’ve got a local group to share the experience with, it can become more fun.
Some of the things you can try for very little time and money invested is a Twitter meetup, or a Social Media Breakfast, or simply let people know where to meet for coffee. So get out there and network on the local level, there is bound to be social media people in your area thinking about the same thing.
If you have organized, or are thinking of getting the ball rolling, what ideas have you come up with? What have you tried that works or doesn’t work? Let’s share our ideas and experiences with others to make future networking better!
Photo credit: Kecko
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Comments
Comment by Becky McCray Rick, you are so right with these thoughts about connecting. SXSW made me feel keenly the importance of making and maintaining connections.
I’m glad you acknowledged that rural areas and small towns have a different issue on this. I’ve worked to get more local folks involved with these tools, as a starting point. I also do try to keep up with regional folks, though the closest are 2 hours or so away from me.
Me and @programwitch have talked of a podcamp, with encouragement from Texas friend @marc1919, but we haven’t gotten it together yet. Time. Time. Priorities.
But I’ve been badgering @jeffpulver for a social media breakfast in Alva!
We do what we can to make it work.
Comment by Rick Mahn Hi there Shey, Becky!
I’m just this year getting to connect with people locally - it’s something I should have done a long time ago. So many similar interests and ideas, it’s lots of fun.
Becky, I grew up on a small farm in Spring Valley, WI in the late 70’s early 80’s. While it was still only about an hour from the Minneapolis area, it was worlds different for doing things with friends and going to games, shopping, etc.. I can only imagine being tied to the larger world, but having a smaller number of people nearby to mix it up with.
I wonder… it would be interesting to me to have a larger event someplace other than the usual places (Boston, San Franciso, L.A., Chicago, New York) and have one someplace that has the capability to host it but always gets overlooked. That’d be a fun way to mix up a PodCamp, BarCamp, or just a big meet up of some type.
Regards,
Rick
Comment by Richard Rick - you’re on the ball with this one, although some of my attempts to track local (UK) placenames in Twitter have only brought regular updates from Australia… twitterlocal.net creates a local RSS feed, but I’m still not sure what it’s based on (? the location in the profile?). Also there are a few commuter feeds out there. Transport for London offers a free twice daily text/email feed which is perhaps stiffling other informal feeds, but it might show a few neighbours…
I’ve been hoping to go to a local meetup here in Toronto for a while — but I’ve been so busy lately that it hasn’t happened. However, I’m definitely gonna try hard to make the next Third Tuesday Toronto.
I agree, taking networking to a local level is the next step, and one I look forward to taking.