Photo borrowed from David Alston via Flickr

Photo "borrowed" from David Alston via Flickr

Liz Strauss is putting on a conference in May here in Chicago called SOBCon. If you’re not familiar, you can check out the site here and see what it’s all about. Liz and Terry Starbucker have gathered an amazing slate of speakers, and I can’t wait to not only meet a few people I’ve not yet, but gather with this intimate group of folks to talk the business of social media for a few days.

The SOBCon team has also put together a cool Blog It, Earn It promo to get a discount on registration (check it out here). And while I’m not putting in for the discount, I did think it was important for me to articulate, in a nutshell, why relationships drive everything that I do.

The Mechanized World

So much is automated now. There’s little you can’t do online anymore. You can pay your bills automatically. You can read the newspaper from your iPhone, or even have a book read aloud to you. You can give to charity in an instant and from the comfort of your couch, or order a pizza online.

The trouble is, there are some things I don’t *want* to be mechanized, and my relationships with other humans are one of them. It’s probably why I get so crabby about lousy marketing that comes in the form of mass email or junk-clicky Twitter DMs. I get an email and for a moment, I’m excited that someone is reaching out to connect with me. Then I realize it’s not a someone at all, but a something that’s got me on a list somewhere.

Why Analog Matters

I’m as digitized as you get, and it would be hypocritical of me to say otherwise. My laptop, iPhone, and associated applications are vital to my work and my day to day function. So they’re always a part of me, a little bit.

But I can’t hear you laugh on my iPhone. I can’t catch the glimmer in your eye when we share an inside joke and try not to snicker at the dinner table. I can’t hug your Twitter handle when you’ve had a crappy day, and I can’t reassure your email that your business idea is a brilliant one. Words on paper (or a screen) are easy. You can’t multitask personal interaction. It doesn’t work that way, and that’s why it’s that much more valuable to connect with someone on a human level, even if the social tools are what facilitate that.

The Return

Relationships make you feel valuable. When you’ve built a connection with someone based on mutual interest, or affection, or trust, you’ve created something that’s not transactional, but symbiotic. You’re tapping into a mutual feeling of comfort, camraderie, even of familiarity. When I find the human element in our interaction – even if that’s through the interwebs – you’ve now become more than your business card to me. You’ve become a multi-faceted person with an intricate set of associations in my mind (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. 🙂 )

And tomorrow, when you need my help, or I need your insight, we have a foundation to build on. What I adore and have talked about many times is how social communications have accelerated and amplified that process through online channels. Made those interactions better, more personal, more accessible. So you’re more than a contact in my list. You’re a reference point for me personally, professionally, creatively.

And in a world where the pace is blistering, the technology overwhelming, the business world a bit savage and our attention ever splintered, I take heart knowing I’ve got more than a “contact list”. I’ve got real relationships with real people, and  so many new ways to connect with them every day. And compared to the people with nothing more than a pile of business cards and vague associations, I’ll win each and every time.

I’ll be at SOBCon in May and can’t wait to meet you there. Won’t you share your take on the ROI of Relationships, and what they mean to you?

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