I feel a bit of a fraud when I tell my IRLY (in real life) friends about talking with Lise Moen or Marion Chapsal or Gabriella Sannino, because most of the time we haven’t talked in the literal sense. We tweet talked, not to be confused with sweet talked.

So, I need a language for the relationships and interactions that take place in the social media sphere.

So-Friends So-Talking

So-friend – a person with whom you communicate one on one; with whom you may share private thoughts and feelings; to whom you feel connected but have never met in person. You’re voices have not met either.

So-leader - influencers by way of social media who have no formal authority, paid  position, direct reports or budgets to manage in relation to those who are influenced. Seth Godin

So-meet – the process of meeting someone via social media

So-talk – communication with so-friends by way of social media

So-volution – when social media kick starts a revolution, Egypt

From SO-ers to In Real Lifers

The transition to In Real Lifer (IRLY) occurs when you meet eyeball to eyeball. I am IRLY friends and/or colleagues with

Jane Perdue (Met Mr. @TheHRGoddess too, and they both met Mr. Biz Shrink during a working weekend – for Jane & me – by the ocean)

Susan Mazza (My first SO-friend to become an IRLY friend)

Roy Atkinson (A three time IRLY who also met Mr. @BizShrink. Roy corrected the 1st rev. where I noted we had met twice.I guess we have crossed over such that I no longer number our encounters.)

JesseLynStoner

Larry Ackerman (Who also met @CVHarquail)

Gina Abudi (actually can’t recall whether we SO-met or IRLY-met first)

CV Harquail (twice – wow!)

Barbara Green @emoticomma and Mr. Emoticomma too. They also met Mr. BizShrink

SCJoson (Who met Mr. BizShrink and she does not in fact travel with Febreze in her possession.)

Tanya Odom (@TMODOM – twice – once at a professional association to which I invited Tanya to speak. She Wowed the group. Also met Mr. BizShrink)

Dorothy Dalton (Philly tweetup and countless skype calls)

Phyllis Mufson (Philly tweetup)

Cherry Woodburn (Philly tweetup)

Patricia Lubold (@Plubold, twice)

Sharon McLaughlin (@shasmc)

Deb Exo (Went to see Nick Kristoff together. Can I count him as an IRLY? NO.)

Geneva Murphy (@TexasNena)

SO-Tweeners

because our voices have met but no eyeball to eyeball contact – yet.

Marion Chapsal

Gwyn Teatro @GwynT

Dale Lawrence

Laura Goodrich (On her radio show)

Dan Mulhern (on his radio show)

Tony Hisieh (interview for an article published in Global Business and Organizational Excellence)

Gabriella Sannino @SEOCopy

Wally Bock

Judy Martin @JudyMartin8 (She interviewed me for an article on chaos in the workplace)

Mary Jo Asmus @MJAsmus

Anna Smith @WDYWFT

Eric Peterson @EPetersonSHRM

Lisa Gates (@SheNegotiates)

Jennifer Sertl

Lee J Carey

Rebel Brown

Becky Robinson

Lise Moen @Lise_Moen

Jennifer Miller @JenniferVMiller

Erin Schreyer  @ESchreyer (almost met but I was called to duty as an IRLY mother)

Mike Henry Sr.

Dave Carpenter

SO-Add your own

And SO you have it. The SO language of SOcial media.

Join the fun and leave a comment with your favorite terms and phrases.

SO-P.S.

A day after writing this post, it came to me that many of you are true friends, regardless of how we met or what vehicles we use to communicate. I care about you. I’ve grown to love some of you. I think about you during the day. You are advisors of my mind and heart. Your energy is in my life. I send rays of warmth, a healing touch, a caring thought in your direction when times are tough, when loved ones are ill, before you make an important presentation, when you are celebrating success. When you’re so-absent I really do miss you. And So we are friends. The real kind, and I am blessed to have you in my life.

And SO it is.

© Germane Consulting. All Rights Reserved.The Language of Social Media Relations is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Anne on Twitter or Google+.