Renewing old friendships through LinkedIn

A truly wonderful thing happened earlier this week. On Monday morning, I sat down at my desk and commenced the week by checking my emails: I had an invite to connect from an old friend, Ulrike who I hadn't spoken or written to in almost 14 years!

Those who have read my previous blogs will know that I spent a year living in Bogota, Colombia. It was part of a Youth Culture Exchange Scheme. I was one of 20 internationals who were placed with Colombian families and undertook voluntary work for one year. The eldest daughter in my Colombian family was living in Germany for the year, and in that family, the son was placed with a family in Mexico, etc. I was the only Brit who went to Colombia that year, and I only met one other Brit in the entire twelve months. It was, without doubt, the most profound year of my life: difficult but it was incredibly rewarding. I met some fantastic people during that year and made some fabulous friends. Ulrike, who was from Germany was my best friend.

In the world of South America, the commonalities between the British and German cultures quickly became apparent, and I think that's what first drew me to Ulrike. And the fact that we both had interesting love-lives that year! When I think of Ulrike, I am reminded of a kind, generous, interesting, and intelligent person who enjoys life.

When I came back to England, I moved to London and started my first year of "real" work. That year was equally tough, but not so rewarding. I struggled with trying to find a career, had little money, lived in less-than-desirable houses and tried to make sense out of my love-life. With so much going on, I lost touch with all of my Colombian friends. Over the years I've thought about them a lot, and I've missed key people, such as Ulrike.

Naturally, I readily accepted my invitation to connect. And in doing so, it made me think a bit further about the potential of LinkedIn. Kate and I have been experimenting with networking recently: we're each exploring different avenues to try and determine their potential. We both recently attended a networking event about how to make the most out of LinkedIn for your business. It only became apparent to me this week the incredible potential that LinkedIn has to reconnect with old friends: I've spent the last week getting in touch with people that I failed to find via Facebook.

Move over Facebook....LinkedIn is my new social networking application of choice.