My Social Media Mission 2008: Collecting Genuine Relationships

There has been a small buzz going around in the social media community pertaining to the quality of relationships being built online. What is the difference between on online friendship compared to an off line friendship? Can you build genuine relationships online?

I recently found a video from Gary Vaynerchuk via the ProBlogger post called, How To Get Noticed [The Art of Positioning]. In the video Gary talks about the importance of connecting to people and building relationships rather than building a bank account or a subscription list. As always, Gary never ceases to inspire. The video:

I have always been under the assumption that you can only build true, strong relationships if you combine online and off line activity.

So… here is what is going to happen. Social Media Mission 2008-2009. Maybe this has already been done, maybe it hasn’t. I am going to make it a point to meet with a social media contact, in person, once a week until the end of the year (week long Holidays may be out…we will see). I will be posting about the meeting and conversation either here or at another blog.

I am craving the leap to connecting my online with the off line. I figure this is going to be the best way to do. It starts next week. Got any ideas let me know! First one, Chris Hadley who I met on Seesmic.

Through the Doors and Beyond the Lobby…Welcome to the New Company

Recently, Vincent Hunt of SurfaceBurn wrote an absolutely brilliant post explaining Social Media entitled There is Nobody in the Lobby…Intro to Social Media. When I say brilliant, I mean absolutely, positively without a doubt brilliant. He explains social media with a visionary, and yet simple, scenario of an office building.

From his post:
An orchestration of web services all tied together, powered by the individuals who have something authentic to say, and are not afraid to say it. Each door on this corridor represented a service. MySpace was room 101 and Facebook was room 102, Twitter was full of clamor, it was room 105, and with THIS revelation I understood even the more, that IF we do not get off the couch – and start walking into these rooms and saying something, we will be left in the lobby.

I found myself envisioning the office building. This massive steel structure filled to the top with people. People of all ages, race, personalities, opinions, and ideas running from room to room in an exuberant, mind-altering speed… Conversations bouncing from wall to wall… Ideas forming in one room, only to disappear and explode in another.

I wanted to expound upon his idea of the office building analogy. I wanted to put more thought into the idea of Social Media being an endless steel structure jutting high into the sky, the steel and glass glistening in the sun before pushing into the clouds above.

Welcome to Social Media Corp. The largest non-Fortune 500, non-commercial, non-capitalistic, and utterly EXPLOSIVE company on the planet.

You can leave your money outside because ideas, content, community, and collaboration are the currency. It is the only company in the world where you are CEO and deep-pocket commercialism is clamoring to get inside. Where they find themselves handing each other business cards in the lobby and trying daily to join in the hallways.

You will find that every room and every floor is different and yet oddly connected.

We are all employees of this new company. We choose to spend time investing in the rooms we deem fit. There is no upper-management or lunch break. There is no 401K or vacation time. There is only the content and the community behind it.

And the community is building… stretching…expanding. There are daily breakthroughs in architecture to build it higher, stronger, and wider.

We are the employees, the architects, the CEOs, and the investors. We are the company.

I cannot do Vincent’s post justice. He wrote with a touch of clarity that I could only hope to mimic. Read it. Write about it. Build on it.

This is where we become explosive…through the doors and beyond the lobby.

2 Important Things to Remember When Blogging

I am a new believer of Gary Vaynerchek. Gary is a self-made millionaire and web 2.0 genius! I stumbled across his site the past week and fell in love with his daily video blogs (vlogs anyone?). The energy Gary instills in the listener is unbelievable! Check out his site if you haven’t. You will not regret it!

My “social media circle” on FriendFeed, SmallerIndiana, and Twitter have been talking a lot about the secrets to blogging. What should be the reasons to blog? What kind of content do people want to read? Should you cater to an SEO type system?

Gary posted a great video about his opinion on How To Build a Great Show on the Internet. He relates building an online show to the likes of a blog or podcast. What I loved so much about the video is Gary completely destroying the glitz and glam aspect of social media

From Gary (semi-paraphrased by me):

“All that glitz and glamor is horse crap. It is not about the camera I use. It is not about the high-tech blogging software you use. It’s NOT! It’s not about the widgets. It’s not about the SEO

It is about Content and Community.

It is about giving from your heart on topics you understand.

Simply brilliant. Gary comes from the hardcore tactics of posting daily, responding to every reader email, and always being involved in the conversation. Content and Community should always be on the front burner of goals associated with business and personal blogs. If you start a blog strictly for SEO purposes, go ahead and join the ranks of lifeless posts.

If you care more about your bottom line than helping and joining the COMMUNITY behind your brand… Go ahead and send out an e-newsletter. Don’t waste your time with a blog.

Is Generation X the Blog Generation?

Most of us have a close group of friends in which we share time and energy. Being of the millennial generation (24 years old) most of my close friends are under the age of 30. I attended a going away party for a friend moving to Nashville, TN and we had the normal conversation centered around sports and daily life. Occasionally our conversation shifts to the Internet where we discuss Second Life, blogging, social media, and other topics of interest.

Being a Social Media Nerd, I am usually the individual who talks about certain topics and new things I learned on FriendFeed and through my Google Reader. The interesting thing about all of this is the face that my friends are complete novices when it comes to the idea of blogging and social media. I mean most of us are on Facebook but the majority of my millennial friends have no idea how to blog.

It was an interesting concept to consider. Many of the individuals I follow on FriendFreed, Twitter, and through Google Reader are over 30. Is micro-blogging/twitter/sms more of a communication medium rather than blogging for the millennial generation?

I know that I haven’t completed any type of research centered around this topic but it struck me as odd that I do not know of any millennial (in my social circle) that were blogging regularly. Other than Brad Ward of SquaredPeg. Does anyone have research catered to this subject?

Are we going to see a decrease in “true” blogging?

Taking Advantage of Twitter and NOT Getting Arrested

Hat tip to Shel Israel on his post, 7 New Tips for New Twitter Users

Social Media can be cumbersome for some to understand. Most of the questions center around large sites like Facebook, Myspace, or LinkedIn (especially in my small business environment). Recently, there has been an increase in questions regarding Twitter. Most of them center around, “What the hell is the purpose of Twitter?” or “I just don’t understand why I would want to know what you are thinking 24 hours a day.” OR “Why waste my time? Does it help my business?”

It took me awhile to finally understand the importance of Twitter. Other than the daily updates from friends and business acquaintances, I started seeing importance in community development. After using the tool over a couple of months I started forming relationships with the people I was following. I would be driving down the road and get an update on where someone was nearby. I’d stop. Talk. Relationship strengthened.

For those of you wanting to get into the Twitterific world, or what Shel refers to as Twitterville, here are a few steps you can take to get acquainted!

My opinion of Shel’s Most Important Twitter Guidelines:

3. Celebrities don’t count. You can always start by getting followed by a few celebrity Tweeters like Scoble, Calacanis and Loic. But they give you no credibility at all because they simply follow everyone. Their purpose is to be a new media star and it works well for them.

5.Have favorites. When you are new to Twitterville, you may not even notice that little star icon to the right of each tweet. You can use it to make that post a “favorite.” ….. It shows your sense of humor and your passion points.

6. Take your time. Twitterville works like any other neighborhood. People start by chatting about weather, lunch–silly little things. Sometimes the conversation goes nowhere, tapering off into cyberspace. Other times, the conversation deepens. It evolves into a real friendship or a business opportunity.

My 3 Tips of Using Twitter

1. Mix Personal and Business: The Social Media world is huge on the concept of being authentic on the Internet, whether it is blogging or having a profile in a social media community. Twitter is a form of micro-blogging and it deserves the same respect. When I decide to follow you or vice-versa I expect meaningful content. I don’t need to read a feed about your latest sales pitch. If I wanted sold I would walk into a Cutco Knife Convention. People want some authentic. They want to feel the personal side and the professional side. “Oh he has a business and a dog! That’s nice.”

2. Tweet and Meet. I take advantage of using twitter as a social stream and a information stream. I have met a couple of people off of twitter. I met BradJWard yesterday at Paradise Cafe! When you combing the online and off-line you gain an even HIGHER rate of relationship growth. I had never met Brad but felt like I knew him.

3. Relationship Building Leads to Business: In every aspect of business networking, a strong relationship usually leads to referrals and project collaboration. Why not use Twitter as a one of the relationship building tools? Start to follow your friends and you will run into like minded people.

Shel is a freaking genius, read the rest of his post for the rest of the 7 tips.