It’s easy to get caught up in our day to day professional lives without stopping to think about anything other than getting the job at hand complete. Emails pile up pretty quickly and those voice mails don’t answer themselves when we veer off in a different direction.

BUT, what if someone in your network needed a helping hand? Would you help?

OR, what if it was YOU that was in trouble. Where would your network be?

In recent months, I have seen some pretty amazing care and concern toward others in my own professional social media network. This feels like the right time to share a snippet of what folks in my network are doing to help others in need – showing care and concern in pure web 2.0 style.

Back in May, Jason Alba posted a blog post that brought me to absolute tears. It was about Phil Burns (Phil801) whose 22 month old daughter Serenity had just been diagnosed with cancer. Jason’s post surrounded Phil’s insurance problem and he added the “Chip-In” widget for donations. He added a link to Phil801's blog post that detailed the story and you can read it here.

What struck me most was that Jason took the time out to write up a post to help a fellow blogger in need. This post had nothing to do with JibberJobber or any of the "Now What???" books Jason has authored, it was purely to help Phil801 in the time of need. Outstanding support!

I immediately donated on the Serenity page. What will you do?

On a lighter note, a few weeks ago I posted a blog post entitled “The Marriage is Over, He dumped me on Twitter.” Yes, I knew the title would grab a some readers, but I didn’t know how they’d react to it.

To my amazement I received the most sincere and caring email from one of my connections that I met on LinkedIn Q&A. At his/her request he/she will remain anonymous. This person is very caring and sincere. They took the time to send me a quick note to say that if I need someone to talk with, they would be available to lend an ear.

How nice is that to know the connections we nurture are there to steady our fall?

Most of you know already that I am a big fan of Dave Mendoza. He is a generous networker AND has a strong social conscious for helping others in need.

A few months ago Dave mentioned to me that he had an idea to raise money within the recruiting community for worthy causes. A lot of people “talk” about helping others, but few put the call to action in place. Dave Mendoza did!

Dave did a great blog post regarding Jerry's Kids. You can read it here. Dave also set up a Chip-In widget to raise money directly from his site pledging $6,000 by the end of the year. You can donate here. Again, another example of a busy professional helping out others.

I could go on and on with little stories like how posted a Tweet on Twitter regarding Wordpress blog set up issues. Both Karen Swim and Ken Burbary immediately tweeted me back with offers to lend me a hand. Or during the busy week that I went offline to bury myself in the desk and the Recruiting Animal sent me a quick note to make sure I was okay.

The examples of care and concern are really endless as many are created every day. I love my social media network. Knowing first hand that your social network is full of great people is an amazing feeling and afterall, isn't that what forming relationships are really?

And yours? Is your professional Social Media network a "Love Shack, Baby?"

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