I'm recently divorced, less than a year officially, more than a year unofficially and it was about that time to start meeting new people. So how does one start? Good question.

I already had a twitter account, but that was for different reasons than meeting people. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn were all at the top of the buzz list. MySpace creeped me out so that was a no. Facebook looked cool and LinkedIn was fine too. Hmmm, signed up for both, made some connections but I was not "feeling" it. What next?

I am an amateur photographer. Well that's a hobby and I bet other people like it too. I decided to google "Houston Photography". Several sites popped up and I looked through a few of them. Laanba's blog, Photine, caught my attention and really ended up being the linchpin to my entire social network. I read (present tense) all of her posts and she always has something going on in her life and also knows a great deal about the Houston Photography scene. In addition to that, she had a Twitter widget on her blog and I started following her.

I finally sent her an email and introduced myself and told her about my love of photography. I was a COMPLETE NEWB to the online world of photography and said as much to Laanba. She replied with an email that might have been 3 pages long. It was FULL of useful information including links to Flickr photo groups I should join, alternatives to Flickr, and other useful blogs.

I decided to join 3 Flickr groups: Houston, Houston Flickr Weekends, and Houstonist.

A few things happened simultaneously. I was following Laanba on twitter and started following other people she was following to follow the conversations and I started making Flickr contacts. I was also introduced to Yelp during this time, but more on that later. At this point, there are quite a few people I "knew" online through both twitter and Flickr I hadn't actually met yet.

I went to my first Flickr meet up and met Laanba for the first time, Crossmage, and KinjoTx (and a few others). My second meet up I met Jeff Balke, Groovehouse, Erin1225, StephanieDancer, TxTamz, and deji_01 (and a few others).

As you might imagine, most people are on more than one social network site. Many of those people are also on Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and Yelp.

So through twitter and Flickr I "meet" Fayza. Fayza worked for Yelp and had been twittering about Yelp. I had already heard of Yelp and already had an account, but didn't really do much with it. I check it out again and find out that it is more a social site than I realized. They have Events, both Yelp events and UYEs' (Unofficial Yelp Events).

I went to my first Yelp event. I met Fayza, Cory O., Shao-Tai, AND The_Fuzzball and Erinen31 at Poison Girl. Groovehouse was at this meet up too. The_Fuzzball has a Flickr group called the GLoF (Glorious Ladies of Flickr) and I am invited to join their group as a DMC (Devoted Male Consort), of which I accept.

Through GLoF I meet in person JenniferLynn, DarkHairedGirl, CyberToad (and through CyberToad ChristineBPC), and AggieChristine (and a few others).

I also ventured off with Fazya and Cory O. to an Austin Yelp event and met many people in Austin whom are still contacts in my Yelp world.

As you can see, my social network has grown fairly quickly (it took about 3 months) and exponentially, all from a simple google search and an email to Laanba. There are many more that I have not mentioned too. I count all of these people as friends and naturally I'm closer to some more than others, but I wouldn't hesitate to do what I could for any of them. These are all good people with similar interests as mine. I am privileged to know them all.

With the growth of my twitter, Flickr, and Yelp accounts, Facebook and LinkedIn have now become more useful to me too.

All this from a simple search and well written blog. Thank you Laanba! My life has been rich with social activity because of your blog and your help.

So how does one start? I say google your hobby and see if anyone else in your area does the same thing.