My Social Network

Just as the world was about to put the passé stamp on facebook, it starts a revolution in the Middle East. That is, of course, if the media has anything to say about it. I’m sure a ton has been written about this so I will keep my comments brief: ich don’t think so!

I have a very good friend from one of the “fragile” states in the Middle East and she said to me one time several years ago: “Jessica, the difference between Americans and Syrians is that we know our leaders are corrupt and self-serving and you are all under the delusion that your leaders are taking their responsibility to their citizens with the utmost integrity.” At the time and even now I think that her observation of Americans was spot on. I still have trouble believing anything but the fact that our elected leaders serve their constituents. Americans are hopelessly romantic about democracy. “My country ‘tis of thee,” etc.

But her observation about her own country is what’s resonating for me as I watch American media coverage of the fall of one Middle Eastern regime after another. Although this might have taken the world and particularly the West by surprise, I think most people in the Middle East (in the Arab world as Hala insists on clarifying it be called) have been biding their time and waiting for this moment their whole lives. Where there had been quiet contempt for their draconian political systems, there is now energy and commitment and revolution. This did not happen overnight. The brave risks people are taking are based on a lifetime of imagining freedom. While facebook may have been a catalyst for a few meeting points, the revolutions are really being fueled by years of patient steps and painful setbacks that built a people power so huge that it now cannot be stopped until change occurs.

So I guess while I’m a fan of facebook, I’m slightly concerned that it is overstepping its place in the history of the world. I am wondering if this just another push by movie execs for the Oscar. "Guys, the movie was ok, but the King’s Speech is going to win!"

It makes me think about all of the networking I’ve been doing lately. I’m not so obnoxious as to compare my meager job search with Middle Eastern revolution, but I’ve been wanting to capture the good old fashioned pavement pounding I’ve been doing to look for work. While the job search has yet to bear fruit, the search is fascinating.

I’m feeling a bit guilty for this sloppy segue. Can I pause for a second and get over my guilt? The attribution rests only in the observation that it takes a lot more than a facebook posting to achieve results.

Ok, while I’m very far from risking my life, I have felt that I have risked my pride on a number of occasions. I think it’s sometimes referred to as ambition, but it really feels like begging. For example, I was at a meeting that a friend from a very reputable NGO invited me to and I was introduced to someone at an organization that I’ve had my eye on. I made a point of chatting with her long enough to pitch my availability and expertise and then walked out the door. When I reached the elevator, I realized that I did not get her contact details. I went back into the room, interrupted her new conversation and asked for her contacts. She was fine with it of course and I was elated to make such a strategic connection, but it still felt a bit desperate. I’m sure it looked ambitious. Sure it did.

Do you ever have one of those days where you wish you could see the map of where you traveled? I wish I could draw the networking I’ve done. I think it would look like some sort of family tree of professional contacts. My social networking travels have taken me from the few tenuous starting points in January to a constant stream of ever-expanding contacts. Everyone, from my dad to Jazz the dog’s owner, has been so generous with who they know. I have called, emailed, coffeed, lunched and happy houred almost every day. I come home and look at the laundry pile and wonder where the time has gone. I have not only memorized the metro, but like a good New Yorker, I know exactly where to stand on the platform now to ensure the quickest, most efficient exit at the stop du jour.

Maybe one day I’ll draw that map, which so far has not once used facebook.