Guest Blogger - Jacky Sherman

The Dating Game

increasingly see people writing these days that you don’t need to go “networking” any more now we have social media. To me social media is just another way of networking and building up to that first kiss.

Like many I’ve struggled with this. I feel a bit like a teenager again learning the rules of the dating game. So I thought “How did I go out and win that first date?” Then maybe I can apply the same rules to my social media.

LinkedIn is like going to a dinner party.

Some people you will know well and some may have been invited by others. There is an understanding that you have something in common. You get to know each other better through the discussions over the coffee cups. Some people will rant a bit whilst others are great raconteurs or sources of interesting information, others prefer to sit and listen. The conversations ebbs and flows around the common interests of the group

Twitter is more like a cocktail party.

Fast moving, slightly formal and transient. You wander around listening to other people’s conversations and stay a bit longer with some and join in the chatter. You may even start a conversation yourself. By tomorrow most of it is forgotten but you might have come across a few people you found particularly interesting and want to contact again.

Facebook to me is going down the pub /club with your mates.

Who knows who you’ll bump into. You may just talk and have a good time bonding with your friends and others around may join in. It’s light and frothy and full of personal detail. You’ll let your hair down a bit on occasions and all the talk will not be”shop”.

Whatever way you like to engage with your friends or meet new ones the next stage is up to you. What do you do following a party ? Make personal contact with those people who you liked and deepen the relationship on a one to one basis. Maybe even arrange to meet up?

Hopefully I’ll see, hear and read about you at one of these parties!

If you want to get to know me better? email jacky@referralinstitutenn.co.uk ( I let you off the kiss!)