Web2.0: Melding Online & Offline Activity

"It’s interesting that many introverts have no trouble socializing online. In that environment they’re able to play from their strengths. But you can also use your strengths consciously as leverage to branch out into more face-to-face socializing. For example, after I graduated college, I met a woman on a local BBS (before there was much of a World Wide Web). We got to chatting online over a period of weeks. Eventually we met in person and became friends, and I soon fell into her pre-existing social group through osmosis. My social calendar went from empty to full almost overnight. That woman, by the way, has been my wife for the past 7.5 years. If you socialize online, see if you can’t use that strength to build new local relationships. While people have done this in global forums like online games, I think it’s easier to try it in local forums. For instance, there are message boards for people who’ve recently moved to Las Vegas."

Steve Pavlina

How to Go From Introvert to Extrovert

Developing a value based network to support your social entrepreneurial activity, as recommended by Yale's Joel Podolny, should ideally blend online with offline activity. Steve Pavlina, author of the above text, offers several practical tips for doing just that. If you are at all introverted (I am), then I urge you to read what he has to say about being more comfortable in offline networking situations.

Here's tip for using Linkedin (www.linkedin.com) to develop your on/offline network:

1. Search Linkedin's database for people interested in "social entrepreneurship" in your community. You may locate, as I have, several folks in your region with an active interest in social entrepreneurship.

2. Having identified these individuals, use Linkedin's established referral procedure to gain an introduction.

3. Once introduced online, arrange to meet in person to explore the feasibility of starting a community Linkedin Social Entrepreneurship Group.

Meeting for lunch or coffee once a month to support and motivate one another might well lead on to far greater deeds.

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