I could well appreciate her story and realized it was something that could only happen in The Village. Here's her story...
"My friend Toni asked me to see if I could find her last missing brother ( I found the other 2), she thought I should try checking Reunion.com. When I went to the site they were having a 3 day freebee, so while looking for her brother, I also typed in my cousin's name and there were a few so I checked out the one with pics and as soon as I saw the pics, I knew I had the right one!!! During the 3 day freebee I was able to e-mail him and ask what year he was born in (I saw he had the month and day posted), and he e-mailed me back that he was the right guy. So I e-mailed him and told him he had cousins and were he fell in line.
"That's about the jest of it. Most people are not too difficut to find. Unless they don't want to be found, or unless they have gone thru lots of name changes."
This is an example of something that's only possible in The Village. Another of our researchers told me about a business meeting he attended several years back. An attractive, middle-aged woman walked up to him and introduced herself as "Cousin Jane". This fellow thought she was giving the name of her company or something and she clarified, "No, I mean I'm your cousin, Jane."
The fellow admitted some temporary shock. He hadn't seen or heard from his extended family in twenty-eight years. In this case, she had seen his name on the list of attendees and made it a point to introduce herself. That's serendipity and doesn't require The Village to happen.
The previous case -- using a social tool to intentionally find someone -- requires intention and tools and most importantly a place where the tools can make the intention real.
Welcome to The Village.
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
- Reunion.com
- The Village posts
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