Mack,
I actually think it's caused by something else. I think the anonymity of the internet helps get people out of their shell.

Mack,

My experience exactly parallels yours. Making connections via social media has helped me be more comfortable making face-to-face connections. And, with a MUCH broader group of people than I would normally get to know - one of the huge pluses of these tools.

Michael that could be part of it, but I think social media amplifies this because the 'sharing' aspect is so central. The more we interact with and connect with people online, I think it becomes easier to do so offline.

Steve I have been amazed at how well the connections formed online transfer to offline. I've been involved in offline meetups of online friends since the early 90s, but the connections I've made with bloggers and those active in social media seem to be much stronger and open.

Mack,
I didn't realize you were talking about making the jump from online relationship to in-person. I thought you were merely talking about being able to share more about yourself online. Sorry for the confusion. I do see how opening up online could be helpful in being more extroverted IRL (as the kids say).
Personally, I'm an extrovert in an introvert's body, i.e. it's hard to get me going, but once you do, it's hard to get me to stop. Subsequently, I find it just as hard to form relationship with people online. Though with the sheer numbers online, it's easier to bump into people I'd want to form a relationship with.

Mack,

Surprise! This is one of the hypothesis I was going to test in one of my MBA research projects on "What motivates people to take part in web2.0 communities more?"

We built a research question, to check what personality type the most active contributors are. And, my partners thought most probably it would be "extroverts" who's go and post all sorts of comments on Youtube, Flickr, or update their status every five minutes on Facebook or Twitter. But, I personally believed, the social media is more for the introverts. And, it exactly match with the essence of your post.

I have to partially agree with Michael Lombardi's first comment, too because there's a segment of the participants who comes out purely because of the anonymity. Because, they wanted to maintain a complete different personality in online media. But, I guess the way things are progressing now, people would be happy to give up their anonymity and close the gap between their online personality and real life personality. Companies are ready to reward people for giving up their anonymity (Update your profile and get 10% bonus! offers), and the benefits of being anonymous is becoming lower and lower.

Great post! and Stumbled it :-)

Thanks Ami! Something else I've noticed is that as I meet and become friends with bloggers, I expand my circle by adding their friends. Trust transfers very quickly with social media, and I find that other than attending conferences, the new friends I make online are usually coming from my existing friends.

Yup--I'm an introvert, too. There's another piece of this puzzle. Confidence. Nothing strains my confidence more than a forced interaction with a total stranger at some cocktail party. That kind of situtation doesn't really exist online. I can learn all about people and the topics they care about, then comment when I have something to say.

And yes, I have found this to be a kind of training ground for the cocktail party scenario I described above. Getting much better at it, thank you. ;-)

I'm not shy, but I'm not always good in big crowds of people I don't know. So reaching out via social media has made it easier to meet new people who share common interests.

In my case, I wouldn't say it's changed the way I interact. Rather, it's expanded my interaction.

So, if what most of you are saying is true, if you tried to build social media network in a small company (less than 100 people) it may not work because it lacks anonymity. What do you all think?

I love the question that Mack has raised here. If you're an introvert offline can you become an extrovert online? I think MySpace was the first to answer that question with a resounding yes, based on the millions of teenagers who have built very extroverted and ambitious online images of themselves, while IRL (in real life) they are quiet, rule-abiding students. Thanks for raising this topic Mack. I am a fan (and an introvert).

Thanks, Mack.

I think it's perfect that you're the one bringing up this subject... I can't think of a person who more gracefully merges his online and offline worlds.

I'm doing double time to get up to speed on social media. One advantage I see with Internet connections on social media is that it makes communication more tangible, which seems to be more important to introverted people. The big reason why I believe it makes introverted people do extroverted things is that there is a real connection based on a common interest so there is less to no fear about being rejected as they would have in face to face encounters.