Read, Share, and Converse to Build Relationships

Each morning I go through my feeds in Feedly, as much for an opportunity to build relationships, as to read and to learn.

How so?

I read something of interest. I take a money quote from the story or a quote from a person in the story and share it on Twitter. I give the appropriate attribute to the person I quoted, the subject organization and the reporter/blogger who wrote the story by referencing their Twitter handles.

Doing so, the subjects see that I shared their news, news about them or what they said. Most of the time they thank me on Twitter, and in some cases, carry on the discussion on Twitter.

Here’s an example from this morning – while lying in my bed about 7 AM.

I shared on Twitter word of the Google News Startups Boot Camp by citing the case of a South Dakota news entrepreneur who founded a local news publication with Google’s support. I saw the news in Feedly by following Google’s blog.

The entrepreneur, Megan Raposa saw my Tweet, and encouraged others with local journalism business ideas to work with Google – saying how important their Boot Camp was to her.

I continued the discussion by sharing with my Twitter audience, including many journalists, the strong endorsement of Google’s Boot Camp.

LexBlog with its growing legal blogging community, already at 30,000 bloggers is always looking at new models for legal publishing and journalism. Here, I meet a good source as to a new model and how Google supported her.

By reading, sharing and conversing not only do I meet the subjects of my tweet, but I also meet others who have an interest in what I tweeted.

Social media is not about broadcasting. Social, by definition, is about meeting and engaging others in a real and authentic fashion.

Perfect for lawyers and other professionals who build relationships and their name via networking.

Take a crack at working Feedly and engaging to follow. It works.