Sorry for the belated postings, last few weeks have been eventful with the swine flu consuming my family and last week me and two students assaulted in the Botanical Gardens……now it’s major catchup time for four subjects……YAH!!

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Facebook has become the main social media tool for me and my household in communicating with ‘the outside world’.  I created a Facebook account 6 months ago and within three days I had made contact with roughly 40% of people to whom I went to Primary and Secondary school with.  This has provided enormous opportunities to touch base with school friends who I would not of been able to locate say through the White Pages, especially females who had married and took on their spouses surname.  It has allowed for us to get together and find out the areas we have moved into career wise and personal lives and what challenges we have had to face.

Conversational short cuts as outlined in Sacha Chua’s blog, provides an opportunity where we can skip the ‘basics’ in conversations with friends and get straight to the heart of where we are at in our lives.  Blogging within your inner circle (work/personal) can create a more open dialog and the ease of access is much simpler. Instead of having to make arrangements to meet at the pub, you can simply blog to a designated group on the latest in your life whether it be work related or personal.

If for instance, a mate hasn’t been able to check your blogs out for a while, instead of having to make contact and have to repeat yourself on the latest, they can simply read your postings and others within the blogging group.  This allows the mate to catch up, add his or her responses and also provide an update on where they’re at.

So, through all this what does blogging do for me?……It adds a more effective and productive ‘communication layer’ to my network of friends.  The ‘time investment’ in blogging gives a greater ‘return’ in the friendships I have and continue to create through the world of Social Media.

Cheers

Richard R-W