Does social media tend to drive people towards more isolation from the real world or the opposite? I was asked this question recently in an interview. What do you think?

I answered that it can do both, depending on the nature of the individual, i.e. if you’re already a bit of a loner then online communication can help drive your further away from society. However, I think from my experience that interactions online also help foster new real-world relationships and communications. A great example of this is conferences and events.

I’m not the most outgoing person and have always had a difficult time walking up to people I don’t know at parties or other events and just starting up a conversation. There is a bit of awkwardness there.

With social media there are a few things that remove that awkwardness. We all know that conferences are usually more remembered for the social interactions rather than the event content. Conferences represent that unique point in time where a number of people come together in one physical location.

Via channels like blogs and Twitter you’ve probably established online relationships with people you’ve never met. A conference gives you that opportunity to meet in person. However, since you’ve already established a basic dialogue online, your real-world conversations are easily jump-started. You already ‘know’ the person. Social media is in many ways the ultimate ice-breaker.

In the past two years I can almost directly attribute the majority of my new friends and colleagues I have across the country to social media.

Ultimately though it’s just a set of tools and it’s how you use those tools that dictate the results you get. Some might use them to further isolate themselves from real-world contact, others might use them to develop more business and personal relationships.