How Second Life Cured One Writer’s Allergy to Networking

We all have “those words”—you know, the ones we belittle as “manufactured” or “PC” or too trendy to do more than sneer at.  For some, words like maximize and impact, used as verbs, top their list.  For others, it’s terms like collateral damage to mean killing innocent people.  For me, a word that’s long topped my hit parade of disgusting or stupid terms is one you’d probably never guess: networking.

Second Life offers a whole new way of networking with other writers!

I nailed that dang word to the top of my list way back in the 1980s when business networking became the “in” thing. Suddenly, every business and professional group in the world was sponsoring “networking” sessions, which mostly involved walking around a big room full of people, handing out your business card to every warm body that passed by, and trying to look friendly, brilliant, experienced, top-of-the-food-chain, and approachable—all at the same time.  I was a small-business owner then, and “networking” was touted as the method by which small businesses became big ones.

As an introvert (and a not very driven businesswoman), I despised networking.  I grew to hate the word itself and excommunicated it from my vocabulary, where it lay lonely and outcast until its meaning morphed (for me) into computer networking, which meant access to the Great Information Source in the Cybersky (GISC)!  (All hail . . . or bow . . . or whatever you do in the presence of your self-created deities . . .)

Even so, the technical connotation of networking was the only one I’d acknowledge without a grimace.  But funny how the universe loves to slap us in the face with our prejudices!

Back in February of this year, by way of the computer network, I “accidentally” stumbled onto what became a paradise of fun and new experiences in the virtual world of Second Life.

Surprises awaited me ’round every corner:  using a toilet-paper gun to shoot rolls of TP, riding a “dancing cow,” drifting through the sky inside a big soap bubble! But what most surprised me about Second Life was what happened outside of it!

Little did I know that by wading into the shallows of Second Life, I would soon end up surfing the wild waters of the movement known as (pause for a gag) “social networking.”

Once in Second Life, I began to meet other writers—the famous, the infamous, and the vast unpublished.  Conversations, workshops, readings, classes, and meetings sprouted like, er, a “network.”  And among the many things I learned was how essential it is for writers to get connected to the Web-world via things like blogging and “Twittering” and joining Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like.

At a round-table discussion with author & marketing expert Elizabeth Yarnell (back right) at the Story Mountain Center for Writers in Second Life

Since these activities all involved my approved form of networking (i.e., prowling the streets and alleys of the Internet), I jumped right onto that bandwagon (or maybe “spaceship” is the better term??!!).

• From meeting Elizabeth Yarnell, author and Recipes for Publicity blogger, I learned that, as a writer, I absolutely had to start a blog.
• From author Aliza “Cybergrrl” Sherman, the famous Web pioneer, I learned about “social media” and Twitter.
• I met blogging and Facebook guru Teddy Gross, who taught me the basics of setting up a blog and convinced me to look at Facebook.

In less time than it takes to say “networking,” I had:

• Joined four “social media” sites and five “micro-blogging” sites!
• Begun posting regularly on five blogs!
• Registered at four or five “lifestream” or “social media aggregator” services!
• Joined three networks of blogs!

And it wasn’t until I’d was over my head in the social media waters that I learned I was now a more-or-less official “social networker” a la “Web 2.0.”

I was utterly and completely shocked!!

When I stopped to look, though, I could see those connecting threads weaving hither, thither, and yon, in circles and spirals and parabolas, until they connected up into a stunningly beautiful . . . yes, network! A network of friends, colleagues, peers, mentors, and playmates.

I was networking — and having a fabulous time doing it!

And all because of that initial curiosity about how to hold distance training programs using a funny Internet-based service called Second Life (see my earlier post on how that came about).

Once a network starts growing, I’ve learned, it finds the most interesting avenues to follow. So I shouldn’t have been suprised when I opened the latest issue of The Writer magazine (of which I’ve been a devoted reader since the mid-1960s, including during my anti-network years) and discovered in it an article by Beth Groundwater, a writer of mystery novels whom I met at an Athena Isle Writers meeting in Second Life. Beth had impressed me with her warmth, understanding, humor, and incredible support for us less-advanced writers, so I quickly turned to her article in The Writer.

But it took me a while to read further than the title—mainly because I was laughing so hard.  The article was published in the “Breakthrough” section where successful writers share how they made it.  The title?  Don’t laugh, this is for real:  “Networking, and more networking, did the trick”!

And what’s even funnier:  I agree wholeheartedly with what Beth says in that article!  (Also check out her article “Top Ten Rules for Networking as a Writer” on her website.) To make it as a writer in today’s market, networking is an absolutely essential key. I just thank the Great Information Source in the Cybersky (GISC) for sending me into Second Life, where I could slip unknowingly through the backdoor of the realm of social networking.

I’d love to hear from you now:

• Do you agree that networking is an essential tool, or do you think the whole trend is hogwash?
• How do you network (if you do, that is)?
• Have you had an experience when a decision or activity took you in a totally unforeseen direction?
• What do you think about the network of connections among people in general?

P.S. You can see how deep I am into Web 2.0 social networking by scanning the list of “Additional Blogs I’m On” and “Where to Find Me Online” in the sidebars at the right.  And do come find me on any of these.  I’d love to connect with you.

Tagged as: authors in SL, Facebook, humor, Plurk, social networking, Twitter