The Power of Introductions
It’s time for a quick confession: I, by default, am totally uncomfortable meeting people. In the past I’ve met people, and without really introducing myself, it was like we both just knew each other now. Talk about awkward, one incident lasted years, and I never really got to know the person, all because of a missed “hello.”
When I started blogging, and finding other blogs, I just sorta jumped in the conversation. But then I realized that a simple “hi, I’m Stephen” can cut through the awkward stalkerish sense of “who are you?” and demonstrate that I am actually a real person, not just a twitter username.
Always keep in mind the power of introductions. And if you’re reading this, and I don’t know who you are, splendid…I’m Stephen, nice to meet you. Well, I can’t really meet you until you comment, but when you do, I’m sure it’ll be nice.
[image from Corey]
[...] – Posts about Blogging as of July 30, 2009 The Power of Introductions – stephenbateman.com 07/30/2009 It’s time for a quick confession: I, by default, am totally [...]
Nice to meet you Stephen. My name is Kurtis.
No truthfully I know exactly what you are talking about since I am the same way.
Hi, I'm Graham. Nice to meet you. Good reminder that introductions are important. I think you hit a larger topic that introductions seem to be dubbed as "less important" in today's society. I know that, at least for me, I'll simply forget to introduce myself and then become friends with a person. Then I'm happy when they find me on facebook because I'll remember their name that way. haha…
haha what's up Graham. thanks for the info on Lutherans.
Hi Stephen, My name is Joe. Nice to meet you. I'm really bad at this, thanks for the reminder…
hey Joe thanks for stopping by.
I'm in college, so in summer I go to a Vineyard church in Charleston, SC (that my dad planted)
and @ college I go to Midtown fellowship (officially baptist, but it feels nondenom-ish)
cool!
hey graham…long time no see…
I know… I've been crazy busy this summer! I feel bad for neglecting churchcrunch but there is just so much content on it. I'm hoping to get to my gooreader soon…
I'm Jim, and yes, you are terrible at introductions.
I'm Andy. And I am a southern baptist.
There, I said it and feel better already. Glad to add you to my reader Stephen. I'll be back. Thanks for interacting on my site too.
I met the digital version of you (Stephen) when you perused over to my site awhile back, and instead of introducing yourself, you just jumped right in to the conversation!
I don't, however, think that was a bad thing at all: the internet is different than "real life," and sometimes an introduction is necessary online, but often in the social media world, just being "there" and "showing up" is okay. If you're on Facebook, a blog, or a forum, you don't really NEED to introduce yourself. Other places like LinkedIn make introductions their de facto way of doing business, but still the idea is that your presence IS your introduction…
Just my four cents…
I think you are a cool person to meet so it is good stuff to intro yourself. How can an intro be bad? Have you ever said, "I can't believe that Joe came up and introduced himself to me….what a jerk!" ? Of course not.
By the way, my name is Dad. I'm glad we've met.