By Deirdre Carroll: Senior Editor

Shortly after this issue hits, Vision Monday will be hosting its annual Global Leadership Summit on March 17. Now in its fourth year, the Summit brings together leaders in the optical industry to address the major challenges facing our businesses, discuss issues that could affect our collective future and to network.

In a very real way, the VM Summit helps build and foster community within the optical industry by showing us that we are more alike than not and that we all share the same concerns and challenges in the day-to-day running of our businesses.

In fact, this idea of “community” will be a hot topic on the table at this year’s Summit in terms of the way digital mediums are influencing our perceptions of what it means for us both personally and professionally. I, for one, am excited to hear the perspectives of the impressive panel tapped to discuss this topic.

With the rise of sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, new dilemmas have arisen to confound many a supplier, doctor and retailer alike: To participate or not to participate? How do you manage your presence? How do you build and engage an audience?

All important questions, even if definitive answers are not so easy to identify. The truth is that even without these answers, not embracing the social networking movement is no longer an option. Social media is the wave of the future and as Jobson has always tried to be a pioneer, I am very excited to be a part of our newest endeavor—SightNation.com—the first social networking site dedicated to the entire optical industry.

SightNation’s purpose is to build community within the optical industry in an entirely new way. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll tell you much more about what SightNation stands for and how you can become a citizen. I look forward to sharing it all with you. ■ ■

dcarroll@jobson.com