Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting up with professional friends for a fun night out. Despite the frigid temperatures, I was actually looking forward to bundling up and heading North for the occasion. These are people that I’ve worked long hours with, learned so much from and are just plain fun to be around. Plus, it’s always a wonderful networking opportunity for future endeavors when you hang out with well-connected people.

Hanging out with Dana Zezzo, inventor of the Zoint & “Get Social” king, at a tweet-up at the House of Blues in Vegas.

You don’t need to convince me of the benefits of social media, both personal and professional. I preach them every day. But some people mistake ‘getting social’ on social media for real life socializing, which it’s not. We all need interaction with other human beings (some more than others), and there’s something about face-to-face communication that just can’t be duplicated in other communication channels.

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To illustrate my point, you may have come across this popular acronym during your social travels: IRL. It stands for In Real Life, as in “I finally met Lars Ulrich IRL at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday. What a cool dude!”

Enjoying the Scottsdale weather with the guys from Driving Impressions.

So here’s my point: at some point, stop getting social online and actually meet up with some people IRL. You’ll be glad you did.

Your Turn

Agree or disagree?

Is your social calendar conducted entirely online?

When’s the last time you met someone ‘in real life?’

Where’s your favorite hangout (and I don’t mean Google+)?

Living large IRL,
Jaime

Let’s connect on social media (and IRL)…