Every Share Helps!

Today's guest post comes courtesy of Hannah DeMilta. Thanks, Hannah!

Relocating to a new city where you don’t know anyone can be intimidating, especially if it’s in a different country on the other side of the world. I found myself in this exact situation just a few short months ago when I decided to move from Cleveland, Ohio to Sydney, Australia.

While I had studied abroad for a few months in Australia I knew that moving back this time to start a new job would be quite different. I wouldn’t have my classmates and fellow study abroad friends as my peers. It was a whole new adventure and challenge, but I can’t help feeling lucky that I had so many online tools to help me.

Before I even moved I was online looking for opportunities to network and meet people. I had been using Twitter to meet people who work in my industry in Sydney. I followed popular hashtags of meetup groups happening that I might be interested in attending. I made a point of following the people who where organizing these meetup groups because they are often the local connectors that are helpful to know. I actually found my job on Twitter which is a whole other story and blog post by itself.

I was clueless as to where in Sydney I’d like to live. I started collecting recommendations from friends and friends of friends who lived there. Then I would get on Google Maps and walk through neighborhoods through the street view feature to get a better feel of places. I felt much more confident using this method to check out an apartment rather than trusting the photos from the online listing.

My first week in the city I already had some people to meet for coffee thanks to those I had met online. I registered an account on a Sydney expat network and met two American friends I’ve been exploring the city and hanging out with. I’ve also found there is an endless number of get-togethers and events on Meetup.com. I had been familiar with the site previously but now have experienced how it can actually be used.

While the idea of moving to a new place and making new friends is old news, I have to believe that it’s becoming a much easier task in the digital age. Finding people with similar interests and being able to build relationships online in addition to offline is powerful. I went to a meetup last weekend and had three new Facebook friends before the event was even over.

Some accuse my generation of being disconnected from the real world despite our access to so many communication tools. We have hundreds or thousands of friends on Facebook but we forget how to interact with friends face to face. While I see where these thoughts come from, I would argue I still feel very much connected to the real world with the online world to thank for that.

Hannah works as a Social Media Specialist at Sydney digital agency, Switched On Media. She loves travel, volunteering, tennis and meeting new people. Hannah is a social person online and offline so please feel free to connect with via her blog or follow her on Twitter @HannahDeMilta.