One thing I find particularly amazing is not the possibilities created by social networking, but the possibilities created in real life by the connections we make online. OK, that was probably confusing. In essence, it’s fascinating to me how many people theorized that technology made us all more isolated. Perhaps it did for a while. But we devolved to evolve, and now that same technology that turned us away from human contact is bring it closer than ever before.

Since I am rambling, perhaps an example would help. I was honored to speak at BlissDom ‘09 (and yes, I am the very last of all 200 people who attended to blog about it. Sorry Alli!). Plenty of people have raved about the class act that conference was (and you can be sure I will be first in line to go next year!).

For me, it really solidified the idea that blogger conferences are a chance to take blogging to the next level. I mean that in more than a professional way. As a mom who blogs and works at home (but worked in an office since I was a preteen until just over a year ago), having the chance to hang with my people is priceless. It goes beyond simple professional development. It’s emotional and personal development.

There aren’t many places where I can have an “I’m Way Cooler on Twitter” button and have people get it. Or even take a picture of it with their iPhone.

Networking both online and in person is Social Networking 3.0. It is the logical next step.

The cool part was that we saw the real life/Twitter life potential before we left for the conference. Amy Lupold Bair — one of my Type-A Moms, my fellow Disney World #magicmoms mom last December, my BlissDom roomie and a good Twitterfriend — agreed to host a Site Warming Party for the redesigned Type-A Mom. (And seriously, if you want to generate interest in your web site or blog, I highly recommend it! #typeamom was the number one trend that night, and I’ve yet to attend one of Amy’s parties that didn’t become the most tweeted tag of the evening).

Since it would be soon after BlissDom, we decided to take advantage of the real-life networking at the conference by getting nice old-fashioned print invitations to pass out at the cocktail parties. We found a great company on Twitter, Delightful Invites or @ DELIGHTFULinv. They offered to provide invitations that we could use at BlissDom ‘09. How perfect were these to pass out at a cocktail party?

Cheri of Delightful Invites was very helpful and I highly recommend her, and the invitations were crazy adorable.

But bottom line: for my fellow moms or bloggers, try to get to a conference or tweetup or any sort of real life connection with a large group of your social networking sisters or brethren. Yes, you can make friends in real life. But you rarely make friends on such a targeted level. I don’t get to be in a room full of people who get me that well that often. Not only did I get a chance to connect with fellow moms who do what I do: sit by the glow of a monitor and scrape away a living for your family plus fellow bloggers who don’t need an explanation of terms like “wordpress” or “twitterati” or “affiliate marketing.”

I won’t even begin to name off all the cool people I met at BlissDom 09 because I will surely leave off several who are amazing, but just know that it was one of the highlights of my year to meet you amazing ladies (and a couple dudes).

It’s a pretty amazing thing, this merging of online and real life social networking.