Boomerang

These days the only thing that gets between me and the dozens of blogs I peruse each day is my thin framed glasses. I consider social media the main focus of my work life, and it wasn’t until my recent visit to Brazil with some friends that I realized blogs and social networks are an integral part of my personal life as well.

Before leaving for my dream trip, my “travel planner” and dear friend told me countless travel tips and personal stories she read on various travel blogs. In Rio de Janeiro, we met some wonderful people who appeared to be close buddies, but we learned that they met just a few days prior through social networking sites while looking for travel companions. What a great way to have some new friends to hang out with upon arrival.

As our trip came to a close, eight of us exchanged contact information and promised to “MySpace” each other once we returned home. In addition to email addresses, we shared personal web pages, IM screen names, and the URLs to shared photo sites where we agreed to upload the evidence from our crazy time at Carnival. Of course there will be a filtered set of photos for the family and coworkers - don’t want to have any of those online persona issues.

Now that we are all back in our respective countries, I’m interested to see how our in-person friendships translate to cyberspace relationships. We started the trip using social networks to find information and people, and now we return to those same networks in an effort to maintain our connections. We’ve come full circle using social media - just like a Boomerang to Brazil and back again!