Don't Forget To Feed Your Online Connections

We live in a connected world where most of us are online just about every waking hour of the every day. Whether it be connection through email, instant messaging or a colossal number of social networking applications like a BLOG, Twitter, Facebook or Myspace, most of us are continually plugged in. That means when we are online the impressions we make "in the cloud" are every bit as important as how we would want to be perceived face to face.

Through our online personas our ability to build and strengthen our connections and ultimately our personal and professional networks grows exponentially. I won't claim to be an expert in the Web 2.0 movement but I can tell you since bringing my BLOG online and participating in various web oriented sites/communities the sphere of my network has grown incredibly large. That is both incredibly fun and exciting but a bit scary too.

You see when you meet someone online there is a reasonable set of expectations for how to care and feed that "virtual" relationship. Much like in real life when you meet someone new, you have to build a connection to that person and find reasons to continue to engage, otherwise the relationship will wither away and die. When you meet people online the importance of doing that is magnified because the relationship is purely virtual; there's no smiling personality or person to person contact to fall back on. You are in essence dots on a screen (or perhaps a really cute avatar or picture) and it takes work for those online connections to grow and for a real relationship to develop.

Just because you can't see the other person doesn't mean the value or importance of their contribution to your life or business is any less meaningful. Take the time and make the effort to grow those online relationships and watch your personal and professional network blossom.