I have been hearing the cry of “enough already” from Introverts. Here is a well expressed example from an introverted virtual assistant.

“Much of my work as a virtual assistant involves social media these days. Initially, this was much easier for me to handle as an (extreme) introvert.  Strangely enough, I find that as friend counts climb and the volume of online communication grows, I react with the same sense of overwhelm, stress and exhaustion as I do to live or phone communications. Have you heard this from others?”, she asks.

I spoke with a social networking guru recently who told me the trend is moving away from massive social networks with random friends and towards more selective managable lists of contacts. He pointed me towards FourSquare, a cool application that lets you share places and updates with friends. This may be one answer for introverts (and extroverts alike) who want to get a handle on more meaningful connections.

I look forward to my daily Google Alerts. This morning I found this gem posted on an IVillage,com message board called “The Lipstick Lounge”

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“I’m a social introvert. It’s hard for me to be this way because I like people, I like interacting and sometimes I wonder why I don’t get my energy around them or can’t be like social extroverts who can go, go, go when they are around people. It took me a long time to realize I need my down time, and being fine alone and being happy alone isn’t a bad thing.

Because I don’t get my energy from other people doesn’t mean I can’t interact with them. Running is something that wears me down too (I’m not a runner, I don’t even get that ‘runner’s high’), but I still do it though I end up needing to rest afterwards. It’s kind of the same idea.”

I love how the writer demonstrates self acceptance. And she turns the myth about reclusive introverts on it’s head. Just give me some down time to recover, say the introverts.

Also – what a great analogy about the Push strategy of forcing yourself to run and then recouping. My guess is that the writer has developed socializing ease through her disciplined execution.

Thank you “Sparkle.Tangerine” for your well expressed wisdom.

Do you think extroverts and introverts differ in how(and even if) they are twittering? Extroverts tend to like to share details of their life(ex. waiting on the carpool line at school, etc. ) and like to connect with LOTS of people. With their more private nature and their preference for writing, are  introverts a) twittering and b)sharing different kinds of (less personal information to fewer, more select contacts).  Your thoughts?

I love the analogy to the wild west with this whole social networking phenom…Some people ventured out west and never made it..others did the same and ended up owning half of Colorado. We are all pioneers in this new age and it is both exciting and frustrating for extroverts and introverts alike.

Her dynamic presentations powerfully demonstrate how: 1) Organizations can capture the talent of introverts 2) Introverts and Extroverts can work together in more productive ways and 3) Introverts can build on their quiet strength to work with, not against who they are.

Her client list includes GE,Turner Broadcasting, AT&T, Pfizer, Cox Enterprises, The Society of Women Engineers, Hewlett-Packard, The U.S. Embassy in Vietnam and Emory University.

The American Management Association termed her a “world class expert.” She was also a featured expert on the 60 minutes equivalent in Korea and the TBS hit show, Movie and a Makeover. Dr. Kahnweiler has written popular articles for Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.

She is a member of the National Speakers Association, Women In Technology and the Berrett-Koehler Author’s Co-op Board.