Monday, January 23, 2012

6 Degrees

LinkedIn is like the game, 6 Degrees of Separation.  You can see all of your own connections, and how many connections you share with each person, as well as how you are attached to people you may not yet be connected with.  Make sense?  Like, for example, if I look up one of my old colleagues, it'll show me that I'm attached to them through one or two other people, going back 4 connections.  Or something.  I'm still figuring it all out.

But the alluring part is this - you never know how you may be connected to someone.  I recently looked up a non-work-related connection on LinkedIn who just happened to be connected to one of my work associates.  Completely random. 

Now that's not to say that they're best buds or anything, or if they even know each other personally, but somehow they've got that connection

Facebook is much the same way, although not quite so technically geared towards tracking connections.  But, of course, you can still see when you share "friends" with someone, and who they are.  I love that part of Facebook, but in all honesty, since the majority of my "friends" there are in the Ds community already, and the vast minority are non-Ds-related, it's super-rare that those two worlds cross paths in any way. 

A couple of days ago, I discovered that a non-Ds-related friend (someone I knew in London 20 years ago) started posting some Ds awareness articles on his wall.  I thought that was super-cool.  He knows about Samantha, and has donated to our Buddy Walk team as well.  One of his "friends" commented that they had a young daughter with Ds, and they thanked him for posting that.  I noticed that they also shared 2 other people from the Ds community with me, and I've now added that friend to my friends list, too. 

Not quite sure what my point is here, except that I think it's pretty awesome to watch worlds collide, to see paths cross in the most tenuous and random of ways.  To help open people's minds and spread awareness across those far-reaching networks of virtual friendship, through communities that have not yet been touched by our beautiful children. 



7 comments:

Rob Monroe said...

It's ALL about community - anything that people bash the web for is discounted immediately by those connections. :)

The Annessa Family said...

That is pretty darn cool! I think it's just amazing how strangers become family because we all share this bond, whether siblings, parents, friends...once you love someone with DS you just feel compelled to tell the entire world how incredible they are!

Brooke
www.TheAnnessaFamily.com

Anna said...

Yeah, weirdest thing isnt it?! I started reading, then following Pennys Peeps blog. They live a little drive away, then her son comes our way for college and THEN her husband gets transferred to Pensacola. We had dinner together the other night and it was so fun! (I think I found her from your list??? or not. wink.)

Krista said...

My husband recently made a comment about how many people actually use Social Networking tools for social networking. I immediately piped up "I do!" You find out the world isn't so small after all and there are people out there just like you, loving the same, fighting the same....after all without social networking I wouldn't get to Sammi's face all the time!

Leah said...

Very cool. Even though I've often been resistant to technology (as evidence by my non-smart phone), I am so grateful for the connections it has brought me. Makes the world oh so small!

Noah's Dad said...

Wow, thanks for sharing that story.

I agree, I meet people all the time through social media and amazed at how people are connected.

It sort of makes the world seem much smaller than it really is.

Keep up the great work on your blog!

-Rick

Melissa said...

Ok, I started a comment, then can't remember if I posted it before I closed your blog....I'm going to blame my lack of mental clarity on this baby consuming all my brain cells!

Anywho...I love our community and all the connections, but I love even more when Ds overlaps with non-Ds. It just makes all those relationships seem much more complete.