A lesson in Social Media & Thoughtfulness

I'm so inspired by a recent blog post by RedSamp called Social Media + Thoughtfulness. As a lover of all things paper, I am an advocate for the old school ways of snail mail and beautiful words on beautiful paper. However ... I love me some Facebook, blog reading, email, text, etc too! But step aside, and think about how these forms of communication are really impacting your relationships. I'm a little sad that many friendships have faded over the years. Sure I might know that my old college roommate is planning a trip to Spain and then be able to see her pictures via Facebok, but I haven't talked to her in years. There's a huge disconnect between knowing what we're up to and actually sharing your emotions and daily happenings through interaction. So I want to challenge each on of you (and myself) to resolve this disconnect in 2011. Take the time to communicate individually and send a thoughtful message. It will pay off and inspire those around you to do the same!

Erin Newkirk at RedStmap, encourages us to step back from our mass distributed "hellos", "Merry Christmas" and "thank yous", and instead address our friends and family on a more one on one basis. No matter what medium you chose for your correspondence, your thoughtfulness and sincerity most comes from the message you are sending. For me, that is one on one communication.

"So, what does this mean for 2011? Make your messages meaningful by being more thoughtful. Regardless of how you choose to send your message {facebook posts, postal mail, email, tweets, SMS}, challenge yourself to really connect. Gone is the stigma of sending email invitations, or texting words of thanks. Successful correspondence in 2011 will really no longer be about how you correspond, it will be about what you say + how you say it."