The social life: Get social, online and in life

It was international Social Media Day not long ago.

It was international Social Media Day recently and all across the world Mashable users had a virtual get-together. The day was launched in 2010 by Mashable, a social media news site, to celebrate the way social media has changed people's lives.

"It is a way of bringing our social media friends together in the one place for a big party," Mashable stated online.

Mashable community members gathered on June 30 all around the world with meetups in Auckland, San Francisco, London, Barcelona, Bangkok, Brisbane and in 1900 other communities in between.

There were guest panels and happy hours for social media users to connect and discuss the huge role social media plays in our daily lives.

Community organisers planned Social Media Day celebrations for the first time ever in locations such as Tel Aviv, Israel, Guatemala City, Guatemala and Curacao.

Mashable hopes to see that list expand even more next year. There were more than 30,000 tweets sent out with the #SMDay hashtag. Another highlight of Mashable's was when members of the community participated in #1Connection, a Twitter movement that matched people around the world together and allowed them to form a new connection - much like a digital version of pen pals.

Social media has allowed us to remain connected to our friends and family when they move away, and to make new connections with people we may never meet for real.

The idea of a day where we can connect with people in our own town or to connect in Google Hangouts gives new meaning to social media, which has been blamed for dumbing down our teens and being a place for selfies and lowering intellect.

If you're bummed you missed out on this year then lock June 30 in your diaries (or calendar app) and get involved next year.

In the meantime, try to connect more with people in real life - instead of Facebook messaging set up a real catch-up, you never know what might happen.