In the not so distant past, most everyone relied on a good old fashioned binder like this one to stay organized with their business connections so they had contact information at the ready.

However, within the past 10 years or so, things such as PDAs, smart phones, apps, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms have started keeping all that vital contact information organized for us. Last I checked, my phone had over 1,500 touch points stored.

Even better, given access to all those people at your fingertips (literally), at a moment’s notice you can send just about anything digitally related to either a social media network, cloud storage area, or to others via email, text, etc. Oh, and you can call or Facetime them too. Truly amazing actually.

Those that know me understand how much I am familiar with those features as I send things often that I find may be of interest for the end recipient.

So what about you? When you read an article, see an email, or find any other relevant stuff worthy of a share to a friend, do you bother to send it to them or keep it for yourself? You can’t tell me you still print and mail articles to friends and business acquaintances. Not unless there’s a substantial reason for doing so.

Why am I telling you all this? With so many of us scouring social media networks and data flow daily, by sharing stuff, we all benefit more. Whatever the topic: industry specific, hobbies, general interests, or just for fun. (Shout out to Attention Era Media for pinging me more than once on Twitter for the good shares I have provided them).

Don’t waste a good connection. Keep them informed, entertained, educated, and appreciative of your efforts by using the tools you have right in your back pocket. They’ll thank you. Trust me.

Duane Drzadinski is a salesman, social media strategist and consultant, husband and father of two. Connect with him and continue the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.