I grew up in a huge apartment building in Queens, NY. There were many kids in the building and there was a playground on the grounds of the apartment building. The playground was a dilapidated mess…the swings were often broken, the slides were rusty, and the benches were full of splinters. But for us, it didn’t matter because that playground was the place to be. We organized our own games and the group favorite was freeze tag. Every night during the summer months, the kids in the building would congregate in the playground after dinner and play tag until 9pm or until it was too dark to see the other kids, whichever came first. No one made plans to meet in the park…no calls were made, no playdates set…you just showed up. And everyone knew that every kid would show up at the playground eventually.
And this is what I love about social media. I don’t really care about all the bells and whistles…the applications, the tests, the questionnaires. What I love about social media tools, particularly Facebook and Twitter, is that when you spend time there, eventually everyone shows up. And everyone is part of the conversation and part of the fun.
Many of you probably have similar memories from your childhood. The playground may have been your social scene, support system, and stress buster all rolled into one. For adults, I think that virtual communities can serve a similar purpose. And if you are a job seeker, there is a good chance that if you show up on the virtual playground, you will find others who are a lot like you.
In some ways, job search is a numbers game. You need to interact with many people before finding the one that can help you. It’s kind of like a really big game of freeze tag. Eventually, the right person will come along and un-freeze you and you will once again be running with the pack of kids.
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