Social Media has made it easy for us to keep connected to the people who matter and enables us to accumulate an audience full of people we may or may not know. One thing is for certain—Social Media will never replace the value of meeting, connecting and networking with people live.
Face to face interactions are critical for relationship building. I am amazed by how many people think they can replace this just by using social media.
You can’t hug someone on social media.
You can’t clink glasses and say “cheers”.
You can’t share a really good belly laugh.
You can’t have a really intense, life changing conversation.
You can’t pick up on body language and facial expressions from a picture alone.
You can’t always get the right vibe through Facebook. (Trust me, I know women who have accepted friend requests from other women who turned out to be men, and we won’t even discuss the “normal” person who emailed me and asked me to send him pictures of my feet.)
Tears, laughter, smiles, hugs, shared stories and vivid eye contact taking in another person’s every word can never be replaced by Social Media alone.
But Social Media can take a connection that might have only lasted a brief moment in time to a relationship that spans decades.
I know this to be true based on friendships I have formed with individuals I might not have had the ability to stay connected to if it were not for Facebook.
I love Social Media, I can probably give you a list a mile long as to why. But one thing I know for sure, you need quality one on one face time with people in order to strengthen and build relationships. Your soul needs it too.
