Today”s post is a guest blog from Arline Melzer of Picture Perfections Video and Life Story Production.
I’m a business owner who previously spent 15 years in the corporate world. Most of my corporate work life took place without the benefit of Social Media, but I got to thinking…
Did business ever take place without being social?
Perhaps my corporate experience doesn’t speak for everyone, but I worked for one of the biggest corporations in the world, GE, and then a small 50-person company that grew rapidly through mergers and acquistions. There was very little I did in these companies that did not involve other people, whether they were casino fellow employees or clients. Much of my work included solving problems and developing and communicating solutions, managing a customer service department at GE Capital and then later at a software company, managing developers, writers and quality assurance colleagues .
But was it Social?
You bet! Face to face meetings, conferences, and after hours activities were all social. Some were ‘team building,’ but we knew inherently that our relationships with people were the most important part of our work lives.
We all know how technology has helped change the way we communicate, but that hasn’t changed the need to have relationships. What’s evolved is just the way we ‘socialize’ with our colleagues and even some friends. I know some colleagues, who haven’t quite made the leap, and to those, I recommend Brian Bish. Not only does he help show you easy ways to make the technical leap, he makes it ‘social!
Arline Melzer, owner of Picture Perfections, is a film producer with a passion to help small businesses with their online video presence, and to help generations preserve and celebrate the times of their lives.
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Yes, social media does make building relationships easier, especially now that building relationships is not as easy as walking across the office. My “office” now, is all of Fairfield and Westchester counties. The only relationship I have inside my home office space is with my cat.
Absolutely! Our offices have expanded quite a bit when you put it that way!
And I have to laugh as I am responding to you from my home office while my cat sits on her perch next to me. 🙂
Matt, you reminded me that even when we could walk across the office, some people where I worked still sent emails instead of talking face to face! But I agree that twitter, facebook and google+, etc. are so helpful to create and maintain relationships because more and more people work remotely.