While facilitated a book club style meeting, there was an attendee who shared something personal about his life and that share allowed him to connect with the other attendees at a deeper level.
The group consisted of many professionals (both unemployed and employed) and he shared that he loves to swim and in particular, he loves to swim with other people… He shared that insight about his personal life because we were talking about how it’s more fun to do activities with other people.
This bit of information gave him some personal attention during the meeting. In fact, periodically during the meeting, people referred back to his swimming. That air space in a meeting is great for making a positive impact on how others view you – and remember you. No one would’ve known that he’s a swimmer if he hadn’t shared that little nugget.
What’s to be learned from this example: Open up, share your life, and stand out! Too often, people hold back and don’t share what is going on in their life in a healthy, positive way – especially when they’re in a face-to-face group environment.
But, on social media sites, people share a lot about their lives. Sometimes, I think they share too much. In fact, because of Facebook, I know so much more about people than I ever would… I think it’s because we don’t share that much when we’re in front of people.
Did our parents raise us to not talk about ourselves, to not gloat, to not over talk about our successes and challenges? And yet, here we have social media sites that allow us to share anything we want with the click of a button. And boy do we like to share!
I love to share my life online too because to me it’s fun to include people in my life. People ask me about my life because I share stories, adventures, good times and bad times. I share online and I share in-person. In fact, I probably share more in-person than I do online – that’s because I love the conversation about life’s experiences, so I enjoy engaging with people when I’m face-to-face. I often find it hard to really connect on social media, so probably share less there because I’m missing the interaction that face-to-face conversations give me.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all awesome ways to connect with other people. I know that there are many other social media options, but those are the few that I like best right now.
Ultimately, when it comes down to sharing your life on social media sites, you need to be clear about how interactive and personal you want to be with your online persona. For me, I find the online sites to be a great way to connect with people. But, I spend a lot of time connecting in-person too. I’d take the in-person connecting over social media any day of the week.
The ability to share your life online is a great way to connect with people again and again. Make your choices on how you want to connect and don’t be afraid to share. Don’t be afraid to share when you’re in-person too… it’ll make a big difference in how you connect with people.
I’m curious to know your thoughts, what do you think holds people back from sharing in a group setting about their personal life?