Jul 3, 2008 | blog
I’d like to take a minute and send birthday wishes to Liz Strauss. Liz writes over at Successful Blog about blogging and business, and is one of my favorite bloggers on the topic. She has a way of getting people involved, bringing them to engage with others and do great things.
Happy Birthday Liz!
I met Liz before really meeting her, as most of us bloggers usually do. Following her blog, she helped me find a few things that I didn’t know I wanted to do. Liz is one of these kinds of people who you really want to meet, to talk with, to learn from.
Luckily I was able to meet Liz in person at SOBCon08 in Chicago this spring. In classic Liz form, she brought together a fantastic event that really connected bloggers to each other, and has helped form a number of friendships and working groups that would never have had the opportunity to get started without Liz’s efforts.
I want to thank you Liz for all the great conversations you’ve started, for the things you share & teach, for the introductions to folks, for the tips & suggestions, and for making things happen. You’re an inspiration, a teacher, an instigator, an organizer, but mostly to all of us, your a friend.
Happy Birthday Liz!
And I can proudly say, that because of Liz, I’m an SOB!
Jun 26, 2008 | blog
If you’ve been blogging or interacting on social media sites for some time, you’ll know the real reason many people are interesting in social networking. It’s the people of course! The power of social media is in it’s ability to shrink borders, provide publishing & broadcasting platforms, and do so in ways that make it very easy for people to use them.
That’s what I find most interesting about social media, being able to see people meet, plan new things, and build new things. Sure I like to be part of it too, but my goal is to bring people together so they can find the resources, ideas, inspiration or whatever it is that they need. I like seeing people make that next leap, that next step.
Watching it happen with people all over the world is a great thing, but it’s just as fascinating to see it happening on the local level as well. It’s one of the most important aspects of the social web, and one that I believe that is taking parts of it mainstream. I always hesitate to mention “mainstream”, but I see more and more people experimenting, or starting to use some social features on product sites.
It’s great to see that happen, because as our modern neighborhoods have kind of closed in on themselves, becoming safer, more secure, the physical interaction has waned. So it’s great to see people coming back around and getting more interactive online. In doing so, it seems that they really start getting interested in socializing in person as well. So I think it really generates a lot of community building offline as well as online.
Photo credit: roel1943
Jun 24, 2008 | blog
One of my favorite bloggers has been picked up by one of the big names in blogging today. Blogging friend Steven Hodson can be found blogging on Mashable in addition to his own blog, WinExtra.
Steven has a knack for bringing a practical approach to all this newfangled technology and sharing stuff. 
He’ll tell you that he’s “a cranky old fart wandering the Internet causing mayhem as he goes”, but I know better. He’s a knowledgeable blogger who’s not afraid to point out some of the silliness that we think is import in web 2.0, and also shares useful ideas for making it better.
So congratulations Steven! I have long believed that it was only a matter of time before one of the bigger blogs snapped him up to write for them. Check out his first “official post” as a blogger for Mashable.
Jun 24, 2008 | blog
Mark Evans has a post today in which he talks about the importance of thinking through our contributions to conversations. It’s something that I’ve learned myself in various businesses & projects that I’ve been involved in.
Taking even a half hour to contemplate and let the questions or ideas rattle around in your head allows you to better understand what was sent to you. It also gives you the time to formulate a more informative and relevant response.
Since we’re so connected and probably overloaded with communications, it’s too easy to simply reply right away. Sure, in doing so we demonstrate our ability to respond, we show that we’re connected and are willing to participate.
However, do we really give every communication we receive the full attention it deserves? How often do you take the time to fully contemplate the full context of what someone is asking? Do these quick replies really add value to the conversation or to the person who sent the message?
I think Mark is onto an interesting line of thought lately. Thinking about blogging, conversations and the quality involved simply in communicating with each other. Sharing information is a great thing, and we can do it so easily these days. The responsibility is upon us to use these opportunities of sharing information in a useful way. That means not sharing incorrect information, or being too verbose in our replies, thereby wasting time in misunderstandings.
What else fits in this area? What more can you add to what Mark is pointing out? There are many great tips that you have to share – leave one here or on your own blog. How do you handle replies? Quick or thoughtful?
Jun 24, 2008 | happiness
Waking up this morning and pondering why I’ve been fortunate to have met so many great people this year.
I’d like to take a minute and send birthday wishes to Liz Strauss. Liz writes over at Successful Blog about blogging and business, and is one of my favorite bloggers on the topic. She has a way of getting people involved, bringing them to engage with others and do great things.
