Is it Social or Isn't it?

Have you ever asked yourself how an air-duct cleaning guy inserts "So, how often do you vacuum your ducts?" into casual conversation in a social setting? We just had a meeting at work about how we can use social networking sites to expand our client base and reach out to more potential customers. I know we can, but... I don't know. I'm kind of enjoying the reconnecting with old schoolmates and friends part of it. I'm enjoying posting absurd little things about my absurd little life and I'm enjoying taking dumb quizzes to learn that I'm really a closet Swede. If I start thinking of the online social networking as a place to be businessy, I'll filter myself. I'll have the online presence of a lapel pin and jacket with logo. I'll lose all the fun, silly, ethically challenged elements that made the social networking appealing in the first place. So I'm taking a stand. I'm just going to be social in the online social arenas. Here's a picture to prove it. Pretty social, huh? No veneer there, my friends.
Of course, maybe I'll put up some smartass comment once in a while, like I did today, so that people will know but don't have to take it too seriously. After all, taking things too seriously is tiresome and contrary to the purpose of ridiculous social networking anyway. And nobody knows ridiculous like I do. I mean, who the heck believes I'm a damn Swede? Besides, I do plenty of networking as it is, because I'm a realtor. (Totally casual insert. What a beaut!)
In fact, I'm a pretty darn good realtor. (Own horn-tooting a necessary evil.) I'm smart, very good at research, and thorough. (Toot, toot, toot.) I work with my husband, who is also a realtor and is better at it than I am, but don't tell him I said that. (Wink wink.) We both work very hard; we are honest and fair. (That's actually true, but you didn't hear it from me.) If you need some help with anything real estate related, or are just horribly curious, call us and we'll help you meet the need or satiate the appetite for good 'ol neighborhood news. (Curiousity being so lethal to cats 'n all, I'd not take my chances. Just call and I'll tell you what it sold for.) If you also work in the real estate business and would like to be included in our referral network, let me know and I'll be happy to add you. (This does not apply to you, Kristan, as you are pretty much my entire referral network for your line of work.)
In addition, on this page, I may take occasion to tell you some of our funny real estate stories sometimes, just to marry the elements, as it were. There's a great swan-attack story that my husband always tells (which includes a naked guy - very funny), and there's one about the time I had a client flap through a house trying to get a bird out of a window only to discover it was re-entering through a hole in the attic... classic!
In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy the fact that, mostly, I'm just going to be my un-business self here and in my online social networking. I rather like to think that my self is a good self to be, even without the lapel pin and logo.