ROI of Relationships

Unless you are talking about virtual friends, as it seems these days, I have them in spades. I am a conflicted introvert who has become an extrovert when it comes to blogging and social media. This was a topic for discussion in a post on Liz Strauss’s blog. Liz posed the question: Are Social Tools Making Introverts into Extroverts?

This is something that I have struggled with for years. By pure Myers-Briggs I am an INTJ, but at work I “fake” being an ENTJ because I am also a care-taker, project manager, organizer and that takes some “E”. Yet, outside of work, I rarely socialize, spend a lot time at home reading, writing, watching movies by myself or with my husband. I hate talking on the phone and rarely answer the telephone when it rings. Yet, when I have chosen to be “out” I am 100% committed to the evening, the lunch, the client meeting, the conference.

On that post, Daniel Hindin commented in a manner that was so profound, that spoke so deeply to me, that I had to share it:

“The way I see it is that writing allows an introvert to be a temporary extrovert. As a blogger, Twitterer or Facebooker, I control how, when and what I share. I can get in and out whenever and however I want. I can interact with people and feel share in their energy while still having no concern about awkward moments or being stuck in a conversation when I’d rather retreat into myself.

After I’m done writing a blog post or have an engaging Twitter conversation, I’m often energized. But after I’m done with a social function, I’m completely drained. The tools of the social web allow an introvert to control how they enter and exit a conversation — or whether they want to take part in the first place. These tools also allow us to take written thoughts that once might have ended up in a private journal and quickly spread them to hundreds if not thousands of people.
I’m still an introvert, and that will never change. But these tools allow writing to pose as conversation. That allows people like me who feel more comfortable with the written word, as opposed to the spoken word, to use our once private craft as a social tool.”

I literally could not have said it any better, and it expresses exactly how I feel.

In these moments of temporary extroversion, which are quite frequent these days, maybe not even moments, but rather long collection of engagements, I have met and connected with extraordinary people within the blogging community. And as I have mentioned before these encounters are with some of the most genuine people I have met. It’s funny because the posers, the disingenuous, the maligned are sorted out very quickly, and you are left with a still rather large collection of kind souls. I am still am amazed.

Why all this talk about friends, connecting with people and the ROI of relationships? Because I leave tomorrow for a much needed vacation. And I will not be connected, totally unplugged for 12 days. I will be enjoying the sites and sounds and experiences of my beloved Paris. Yet I felt that it was important to continue my commitment to post every day and to provide cool reads for my freaders.

So what exactly is the ROI of Relationships? It’s NINE bloggers that you barely know agreeing to guest post while I go on vacation.

Why?

Because they are nice people attracted by another nice person and because it is a nice thing to do.

And I hope that you as my readers think so too.

So please come and welcome my guest posters into your lives as warmly as you welcome me into yours.

A bientôt !