New Media Interchange

June 8, 2009 • 12:58 pm 1

In The Field… Face to Face Face-Off with Facebook

Tracy Pattin, host, SizzleintheMiddle

“Social Media” is the buzz phrase of the moment. Everybody is Facebooking, Tweeting and Linking in on Linkedin at a frantic pace. I love this new way to connect, but I’ve discovered something. We still crave AND need human contact. Nothing has been more evident than the past two weeks with the plethora of events I’ve attended where real humans show up and interact with one another. (click here to read about the events) Judging by the huge turnouts, face to face contact is alive and well. Here’s the trick to all of this. We need both! “Meat space” (the real life physical world) AND cyberspace are key players for many of us. I guess as long we straddle both spaces, we’re okay. But the key here is balance.

Last week I went to one of those events. Heartlink is a “relaxed dinner/networking gathering for women. This unique experience enables you to meet women like yourself who help one another grow their business and strengthen their community.” After a great dinner (provided by a restauranteur and Heartlink member) Host Carolyn Ziel began the 3 minute introductions going around this circle of about 20 women. ” We all need to reach out. Each one of us has a dream to be realized. Being grounded in passion moves us forward” Carolyn said. As we went around the circle, each woman shared their dream and business with a lot of passion and humor.

I was amazed by the variety of expertise; reflexologist, mortgage broker, restauranteur, wealth coach, hand analyst, chiropractor/motivational fitness coach, life coach, executive sales consultant, bodyworker, even a woman who sells nutritional fruit and veggie “gummy bears.” All these women had interesting stories and all were about community and helping each other realize those dreams.

So whether we’re Facebooking or Facing Each Other, we need to remember, there is nothing like that real human contact. Afterall, we humans were here long before the internet was born.

You can easily find human contact events in your area by using…guess what? The internet. Go to Meetup.com, join a Facebook group or the other social media site groups.

-Tracy Pattin