Hello followers! The Shopper Next Door has returned from a long sabbatical and hopefully has much to share with all of you. I know the blog platform at TheRetailTradeCenter.com is not the best for blogging but as soon as i can scrape up some moolah, i will be upgrading the Blog module of this Center. If you are so inclined to help me out, look for the Donate button on the Concierge page and make a kindly (generous ) donation. It will be much appreciated. In the mean time, i will continue to post blogs in both the Center and to my Corporate site.

Now to tell you about my quest. I went away to learn all about social media and to find the 'conversation'. Why, you might ask? What does that have to do with shopping? Well, actually, i was not really sure about that myself. (another reason i went on the journey) I thought that since i had created a social network for Retail, the least i could do was find out what it was all suppose to mean and do for all of us. I FOUND OUT PLENTY!!!

The first thing i found out is that there are a plethora (i am trying to use big words to keep my mind alert) of tools for social media and communication that are popping up on almost a daily basis. It is very hard to keep up with all of them but i intend to begin introducing some of them to you in my next project.

The key take-away from this is that everyone wants to communicate! We love that the internet has made it a smaller world and a world in which we need not venture out of doors but alas, we still long for personal relationship. We want to meet people we can talk to and get information from. We love connecting!

I'm going to steal a little from the concept of the book "The World is Flat" (by Thomas L. Friedman) only to say that while the 'progress of globalization' requires a 'leveling of the playing field', it need not require a 'leveling of the character'. Though Web 1.0 brought us the world, we could only see one side of each character. A step forward but still not far enough. Now with Web 2.0 and social media, we can finally see all sides and so characters are becoming round! This means they are more interesting, they allow for deeper relationship building, they allow for open candid conversation (you can say anything you want when the other person does not know where you live) and you can connect with people you may have thought unreachable.

So this is the beginning of social networking and a place to start understanding how to get in the game. To get in the game yourself, do our little homework assignment below and stay tuned for our next topic about the 'Conversation' i found.

Until next time;

Your Shopper Next Door...

Your homework:

Tell us about yourself through your profile at TheRetailTradeCenter.com then add a picture, comment on at least one other picture or forum and see if you can entice someone to connect with you! Watch yourself become round and the world unflatten.