Thursday, July 14, 2016

Igniting Connections 50 Years Later

I tried to light some fires today. I took a risk and used social media to contact people I don't know. Part of me felt a bit like a sales weasel, but I persevered through that uneasiness because I believe in what I did.
In 1966 my mom graduated from Imlay City High School, in Imlay City Michigan. Her class is coming back together in two weeks for their 50th reunion; those who are able to anyway.  My mom is not in that group, and I feel badly that she cannot travel to attend, when I know she would love to see her friends back in their home town again.

I decided to take a risk to create a way for grads to connect virtually. I made a Google Form, and a map, where grads could input their current location, and add email if they wished to get in contact with anyone again. Sounds great, right? Why do I still feel like I'm locked out of the school with no way in? The '66 grads are almost 70 years old, and I worried that many of them would not have a strong social media presence, so I could push this idea to them. I was surprised to find a good number of graduates on Facebook (after some careful sleuthing through reunion photo credits) so I decided to shoot them all a message explaining who I am, and would they mind sharing the form and map links to anyone else from that era, thanks very much?
 https://twitter.com/aliringbull/status/753645923343994880

I know social media isn't meant for cold solicitation; I don't appreciate when companies "follow" me with the hopes of peddling a product. However, my product is Human Connection. I believe in the positive powers of my product, and its benefit to everyone who uses it. All I want is for my mom to feel a part of her class reunion. To me, it was worth taking the risk to tap a few strangers on the shoulder to see if they'd like to play along.  I'm now trusting the Universe and my faithful PLN to help RT and spread the word for me too. I'll put the matches down for now.