To begin (and for transparency’s sake), I should say I’m not Italian. Not even a little bit.

But this is not the point.

I was scanning the Twitter stream the other day and noticed one of my posts was “retweeted,” so I went to send a “Thx for the RT” which led me to a closer examination of the fellow’s Twitter bio — now he turned out to be very Italian. That’s when I officially met the “master of the Italian card game Scopa.” And then I took a moment to enjoy a flashback to more than 15 years ago when I played the game on a regular basis while living in Europe. Molto bene!

But this is not the point, either.

I invite the two of you who are still with me to follow this pictorial trail (if you’re reading this through your RSS feed reader or your email inbox and not seeing pictures, click here) and I promise to usher you directly to my point, which is about how you can use social media to build a community around ANYTHING that is of interest to you and why that matters.

Hmm…what’s this “Meetup” about…(click) –>

Hmm…wonder what other groups are on Meetup.com that would interest me…

Okay…I’ve arrived at my point. (Grazie for your patience.)

THE POINT: (drum roll…) My Twitter time went from Scopa (a long forgotten personal interest) to Meetup (an online community building tool I simply hadn’t stumbled upon before) to a search of other Meetup groups…and, because I can never turn off the marketer in my mind, the realization that if I were the community manager for a business, I’d want to know what Meetup groups are out there and where they’re meeting. I’d want to see how my business could add value to the group, whether in promoting group participation within my own company or in offering a sponsorship of an activity to one of the groups — whatever. The point is (another point?), THIS is where social media and social business meet. (Or, “meetup” in this case.) And meetup.com is just one of the multitude of places they’re meeting using social media tools.

On a personal note, I found some groups that appeal to my unique interests, such as groups for “Chinese Language Learners.” Seriously. Who knew people were meeting up to chat in Chinese (or to try to, at least!)? I think that’s 酷.

Business. Personal. Italian. Chinese. Social Media. Social Business. It’s a mix that requires you — the mixer — to stir things up and engage.

I think this post serves as a case study on multiple levels:

• How Twitter can be a valuable tool for business AND personal use
• Why it’s important to READ PEOPLE’S Twitter bios and make sure yours reflects your interests
• Why taking a second to send a personal note to someone on Twitter can be worthwhile
• There is some truth in advertising (when they say “there’s an app for that,” they’re not kidding)
• There are people meeting up everywhere over just about everything — consider what that could mean for you and your business
• There is networking value to overlapping the professional and the personal online (safely and cautiously, of course)
• And for my new Italian friend, be careful where you invite “@usegraymatter” because she’ll end up posting about it

Scopa Cards (translated in Italian, "Scopa" means "sweep"). Points are awarded on each deal and when a player "sweeps" or wins all the cards on the table.

To think, all of this came out of a little tweet about a little deck of cards.

Meet online. Move offline. Maintain your network.

Scopa!

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So, get this: the number of unique visitors to twitter jumped from 8 million in the month of February to 14 million in the month of March (Source: compete.com). If I were standing in front of you, I’d repeat that for emphasis with wide eyes, a series of explosive hand gyrations and a giant grin, blinding you with my recently whitened teeth.

While I’ve heard a bit of grumbling from long-time twitter users (using since 2007!), worried that twitter would be ruined (somehow made less useful and/or less cool) now that it’s being investigated and embraced by the mainstream, I am ECSTATIC! (I’d also love a break from the trend I’m seeing in blog posts about why you’re unfollowing people…our apologies for creating so much “noise.”)

Only in mainstream understanding and adoption will ANY type of social media gain more versatility and usability for businesses.

Think about it in terms of the introduction of email, whose mainstream and mass adoption led to exciting (and ongoing) opportunities to advance communication, productivity and content sharing on both professional and personal levels. That said, utilization by the masses always comes with a few extras we’d all prefer to do without, such as SPAM, get-rich-quick schemes and abusive/annoying marketing tactics (hence the grumbling by the early adopters)…but you have to take the good with the bad, no? That’s just how life is. Accept it. And if you feel like getting your zen on, embrace it.

I want to extend a WARM WELCOME to the masses.

Welcome to twitter. Welcome to LinkedIn. Welcome to facebook. Welcome to youtube, ning, flickr and digg. Welcome to Web 2.0. Thank you for coming. Because YOU are here, we (the collective “we”) will be able to advance the power of these platforms.

YOU are driving “traditional” businesses to shift in their seats, sit up, take notice and evolve. Thank you!

This communication evolution will…scratch that…IS creating an abundance of personal and professional opportunities for us all. Each social platform offers something unique; so come one, come all and ask for help whenever you need it. Don’t “get” something? Google it. Everything you ever wanted to know is at your fingertips, the trick is in finding the platforms and tools to navigate through all of the excitement to find what you are looking for. Don’t look for social media “experts” busy building up their egos…look for businesspeople who can help you help yourself.

The cost of entry here begins with your time.

If you’re a small business owner, you should be doing cartwheels right now (right after you make sure your LinkedIn profile is 100% complete). Spend a few minutes asking someone who is using online social tools a few questions. Educate yourself, grow your business.

In January of this year, Peter Kim asked social media thought leaders to help move us all toward tactical solutions for social businesses. So while the masses are amassing online, I want to tip my hat to all of the businesses that are busy about developing their internal social media policies, plans and guidelines to expand their methods of external outreach. I’m thrilled to be working with clients and companies who are focused on finding ways to overcome some of the actual and perceived barriers that other businesses are using as excuses to keep their heads in the social sand.

“I don’t have time for it” is simply shortsighted; successful businesses find ways to overcome barriers, of time and tactics, period.

If you want to learn more about some practical solutions for engaging in social business, Amber Naslund is doing an amazing job right now on her blog, Altitude Branding, providing blueprints for moving forward. Another practical person to tune into is Kyle Lacy, whose blogging offers post after post of socially creative insights.

Me? I’m seeing the virtual rubber hitting the road all over the place and I know EXACTLY who we have to thank for it.

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So you’re LinkedIn, facebooking and tweeting. But are you moving those connections offline? That is, when you make solid, quality connections in any of the online platforms you’re in, are you moving your conversation into a one-on-one context? A phone call? Coffee? A mini-meetup or tweetup?

If not, then why not?

When I find myself talking about why I like spending time in the online socialsphere, I always like to make the point that, for me, it’s not about sitting in front of my computer for hours on end. It’s about meeting new people and building those relationships into a quality network.

Consider your ratio of social networking to social business.

I have to credit Peter Kim for raising my awareness of the term “social business,” and his point is not lost on me. If you’ve ever had to explain “social media” to a C-level executive, I’d highly recommend the “social business” positioning. Of course I’m not saying you need to be all business all the time, but the fact is many of us have integrated social media into our workdays. We learn here. We share here. We connect here. Sure, I’m entertained in and by the process, but I also have a job to do, clients to serve and projects to complete. So I take the time I spend on the socialwebs somewhat seriously.

What’s more personal than talking or meeting offline?

Time is money. So I do my very best to put my money (and my time) where my mouth is. (Literally.) That means I want to talk with you offline. Sometimes we’ll connect on a business level and sometimes on a personal level. I’m happy either way. This post is NOT about looking at everyone with “what-can-you-do-for-me?” eyes. It’s about further personalizing your engagement, your conversations and your network. Or, as Jacob Morgan puts it, “You ARE a social network.”

Call or meet a virtual contact today. If you enjoy your time talking with people online, imagine the reward of talking with those same people offline. Go ahead, do it.  I triple dog dare you.

And now the TRANSPARENCY DISCLAIMER: I’m behind on my calls, (for obvious reasons), but I look very forward to speaking with @JoshSmith12 @ariherzog @CharityHisle @bruceyang @ApothecaryJeri @peabodytweets @mrshadeed @cirqueldesign @JohnSheridan and @GusSent. Talk to you all soon. (Well, as soon as I can!)