The other day while having breakfast with a business associate we discussed Twitter. He asked me if I’m going to a social media conference next week in Syracuse. He wondered if I even believe in using social media as a professional business tool. It’s a logical question, maybe not so logical in the sense that this person knows I work for an Internet marketing firm, but logical in the sense that tweeting doesn’t sound very productive. Facebook is where my mother plays Farmville. Youtube is populated with remakes of Lady Gaga’s Telephone. I get it.

However, isn’t being social part of business? That morning we were having social meeting to discuss business, over breakfast, face-to-face. And we discussed much more than just business; we talked about his kids, homeownership, politics, and etc. We bonded; we shared.

Business people are social, we don’t work in a vacuum of people that only want to talk work. We want to work with people we enjoy. What’s the difference between a conversation with a meal or participating in an online discussion? (Food, I know. But you can eat when you’re chatting online, and what’s better is that you don’t have to agree on the restaurant!)

Recall your last business meeting, maybe a sales call. Did you walk into the conference room, shake hands, and then immediately into your presentation? No, no you didn’t. Instead, you said hello and you probably asked how long they’ve been in the facility. They asked if you watched the game last night. You referenced the plaque on the wall wondering, “did you win an award?” You wanted to get to know each other.

That’s business and that’s online social media.

You create a Twitter account to share information about yourself and learn about others. Your company Facebook fan page is a place to show pictures of the company picnic. You scan the LinkedIn group for your industry to see what’s new. The value of social media is relationships.

As our meal was ending I relayed to my friend that social media is what you make of it. But I want to learn more, so I told him that I’m attending Syracuse BizBuzz because I want to learn. I recommended he attend the conference, and I would have recommended it to him via Twitter but alas, he doesn’t tweet.