Just returned to the office from a thoroughly engagaing lunch with Jim McGee. Jim is every bit as smart and engaging as his weblog would have you think he is.
As has become the norm in first-time meetings with fellow bloggers, all of the ordinary “getting to know you” stuff is gone. We already know each other, we already have an idea of what interests each other, and we jump right into a completely thought-provoking discussion. It was true when I met Chris & Joy, Ernie, Buzz, Matt, Denise, Jonas, Ross and many others.
John Robb wrote about this last year too. With “social software” getting so much attention lately, I think we would be wise to recognize that weblogs have become one of the best ways to get to know people you should know. You decide which people to associate with in part based on what they know — and blogs help establish that.
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet several of my friends face to face, but the most surprising thing is that after meeting them face to face it only reaffirmed what I already knew: they’re interesting, thoughtful people who I’m lucky to know.
By Rick Klau. [tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog]
Rick skips over the importance of two to an excellent conversation. After almost two years of reading each other's blogs, several phone conversations, and multiple last-minute lunch cancellations, Rick and I finally managed to break bread together.
We did indeed dive right into several conversations that were both challenging and entertaining. Something that would not be possible, by the way, simply as a side effect of several of the various networking websites such as Ryze or LinkedIn. While these sites may have a role to play, the picture you can build of someone on the basis of following their blog on a sustained basis (preferably in your aggregator) is not something that can be replaced by the dry recitation of resume tidbits and interests that make up the relatively static content of these networking sites.
Looking forward to future lunches with Rick.