So my social media friend, Jody Whitesides, asked me how I had 1,600 followers. Honestly, I had a few basic ideas, but I wasn’t sure. So I thought I’d ask my followers ‘why’ they followed me. Not everyone responded, but the people who did respond had some interesting responses:

doctorlinguist @Tabz I follow you for the awesome.

motownmutt @Tabz cuz you have a cute kitty avatar?

CalgaryGuru @Tabz …’cause Mr. Twitter told me to follow you?

numindan @Tabz Cause you’re the goddess behind Bbtl and I enjoy your updates

UKMelia @Tabz Because I wub you.

avenuez @Tabz I have a tough time remembering why I followed my current peeps, but I know why I do/don’t these days.

coyotesqrl @Tabz BBtL castmember, so it seemed only reasonable

smittyhalibut @Tabz Heard of you first from BBtL, continue to follow because you’re interesting and haven’t annoyed me yet.

Steve_Lipton @Tabz because some else was replying to you. Though I can’t remember who.

arstal @Tabz Cause you followed me and didn’t look like a spambot

dailybreezeME @Tabz I want a local South Bay network, so I’m trying to follow as many local people as I can find.

robertsm85 @Tabz I followed you because of BBTL

MisterDubbs @Tabz You started following me first, I just responded.

mrxinu @Tabz Cuz your cheeks are just so cute I wanna pinch ‘em!

Eric_Curtis @Tabz I’m pretty sure it was Buffy related.

trickster_brat @Tabz Fellow BtVS fan. =D

winnypooh @Tabz I think tonwithe re-twittered something about you… thats how I found you.

rosecolette @Tabz Clay has brought you up in convo a few times. I liked and appreciated the positivity experiment, and you give good links.

fuffy_frog @Tabz i listen to your podcasts. that’s why.

gerryc @Tabz ‘Cause I met you in person and you’re awesome; not in that particular order.

fulkb @Tabz You responded to a comment of mine re: New Media Expo

hjkuzcotopia @Tabz I usually follow people cause I know them, or people I know know them

sinspired @Tabz Dude, I know you, but I have started to follow people who follow me or follow people I follow – but have very interesting tweets.

tharensolo @Tabz I followed you because I love your podcast and I use Twitter to connect with people interested in the same things as I am.

nuchtchas @Tabz I follow you because I like you and want to hear your thoughts. Normally I font follow random people and have dropped those lacking

ozbourne @Tabz because you’re cool/interesting

tisfan @Tabz Because you like Dr. Horrible, and I like your cat’s entry

Kaylee_Frye @Tabz Cause you’re real sweet, baobei.

Of course, the best answer is from Kaylee Frye . But it’s interesting to see that a huge amount of the responses because of my podcast or involvement in the Joss Whedon fandom. So, how about you? Why do you follow people on Twitter?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In case you’ve been living in a social media bubble, you probably know that there are individuals and groups out there who are entirely anti-social media.

These people don’t see the point or feel that social media is a waste of their time and energy. According to my philosophy of social media (social media is simply sharing life online) they’re wrong, but then again, I’ve been wrong myself.

So the question is. What do you say to people who downright -hate- social media? Or should you say anything at all?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’ve been a social media junkie since I can remember. Now, social media is normally associated as a ‘new thing’ but it’s been around since the invention of the internet in the form of bulletin, message boards, text based chat rooms where you asked a/s/l? Twitter, Myspace and Facebook have just expanded on those early forms of communication. But in the end, it’s pretty much the same idea.

I’ve seen in the span of those 10+ years the power of passion.

To steal from Buffy the Vampire Slayer -

“Passion, it lies in all of us, sleeping… waiting… and though unwanted… unbidden… it will stir… open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us… guides us… passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love… the clarity of hatred… and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion maybe we’d know some kind of peace… but we would be hollow… Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we’d be truly dead.”

Now of course, the main idea of passion is love – romantic love mostly, but passion also sparks in people over a wide and varied amount of topics. The most recent examples? Twitter’s Magpie debate, Motrin’s Babywearing Ads, the USA elections, Prop 8, etc.

Passions are amazing things. They lead to amazing pieces of art, science, dance, music and, as Angelus said in Buffy – they can be the source of our finest moments. The flip side can be they can lead to our worst moments too. Too often has friendship been shattered, relationships lost, and life broken over passion. Consider the extreme case of Adolph Hitler, a man of intense passion.

There’s some easy subjects to get me fired up about. Illegal immigration, religious freedom, treating people as equals, anything involving kids or pets, Joss Whedon, and the list goes on.

What I am saddened by is not that we get passionate, but often in the midst of our passions we forget the basic tennant of social media – social interactions, human beings. We lose sight of the idea that your participation in a social media situation makes you responsible for how you treat your fellow man or woman (or kid or cat, as the case may be).

There are many ideas and decisions that effect our relationships. Moving a distance from your best friend might cause you to lose touch. An aunt selling Mary Kay may cause you to stop calling them because of their incessant pitching. Your sister’s new cat may keep you from visiting over Christmas.

But should it?

Making and breaking of relationships is a fact of life. How many times did someone tell you “you may not be friends with that person forever…” My parents were fond of, “your friends will come and go but family is forever.” And that can be true, but I would hate for something as inconsequential as my aunt’s new business opportunity, my sister’s cat, or a length of distance cause me to miss out on living life with someone that I truly care about.

Focusing on the problem, “oh my Twitter friend can’t shut up about his new fishing rod”, rather than all of the reasons you followed that person in the first place leads to an increasingly selfish model of social media. I believe America’s focus on consumerism has lead us to forget that we’re in it to give as much as we are in to get.

I’ll admit I’m a huge proponent of Gary Vanderchuck’s idea that ‘there is no noise’. Decluttering your friends list is not something I propose or support personally. I believe anyone who wants to get in contact with you or communicate with you is valuable and adds value to you as a whole person. They contribute to the “stone soup” as I like to call it.

Social Media stone soup is the idea from the fairy tale that everyone on their own had ingredients that, when combined, made a delicious soup. But without contributing there’d be only a stone in a pot of water.

All this said, I’m also a supporter of “make it work”. The philosophy that you need to have social media communication and situations that work for you – so you get the most out of it. If a relationship is not working for you because of your life choices, that’s fine. But consider the person behind the choice – not just a blanket choice for choice sake. And don’t force your views of ‘make it work’ on others.

Passion is a beast. It can be used for good (as I recently saw with the people who jumped up to support Doug Price, a podcaster who lost his home in the recent CA fires) or evil (the amount of broken friendships I saw over the 2008 elections). Just make sure that you’re ruling your beast, not it ruling you.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

How many times in social media have you heard these phrases:

“10 Twitter rules you MUST follow…”

or “Myspace only works if you…”

or “NEVER do this on Facebook…”

When anyone starts issuing ‘rules’ or tossing around the word ‘only’ I start to worry. I’ve seen verbal fist fights online over how to navigate a social site! And, in my opinion, it’s ridiculous.

If you’re a fan of Project Runway you’ll know Tim Gunn’s trademark “Make it work”. The idea is the designer needs to make his or her concept work in the dress no matter what apprehensions Tim has. Bring it all together and make it work. There’s no place on earth that this is more true than on Social Networks. Let’s explain what ‘make it work’ means for you.

Recently there’s been a lot of talk on Twitter about how people follow/unfollow other users. Now, I follow anyone who follows me. Unless you’re someone awesome like Wil Wheton, I only follow people who follow me. I use the service Qwitter to alert me when someone unfollows and I immediately unfollow them back.

Why? Because for me Twitter is about mutal conversation. I’m a dipper into the Twitter stream. I don’t read everything that everyone posts, but I do engage my list (@’s mostly) and join in discussions (#).

That’s how I make Twitter work for me. My friend @PodcastJunky does it slightly differently. She perfers someone to @ her when they add her – that way she only adds people who are her friends or are ‘real’ people.

Still another friend only adds people he 100% knows.

Whose right? We all are, because we made Twitter work for us. We are all different people, we have different priorties and we interact with people differently. Now, where the conflict comes is when my ‘make it work’ clashes with your ‘make it work’. But that should -never- cause the tpe of petty bickering I’ve seen online. If you’re one of those people who expect me to follow you just because you’re awesome, you’ll have to understand that’s not my ‘make it work’ – and if I think you’re awesome and you don’t follow me back, I have to understand that’s not how your ‘make it work’ works.

In the end social media is real life online. It’s about relationships, friendships, and all the other enjoyable thing that makes sharing our stories together enjoyable. If we over bicker or push rules and standards on people, we wind up focusing on all the things that drive us apart, instead of the things that bring us together.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

JANE DOE, INC. BENEFIT HOSTED BY ‘Social Media for Social Change’

Harnessing the Power of Web 2.0, ‘Social Media for Social Change’ (SM4SC) Hosts Event to Support Victims of Domestic Violence

WHAT:

Social Media has changed the world, Now it can help change real lives, SM4SC Charity Evening Event Supports Jane Doe Charity with sponsors ranging from Empressr.com to DELL SMALL BUSINESS.

WHEN:

7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. EST

Friday, October 10th

WHERE:

Harvard Club
Massachusetts Room

374 Commonwealth Ave

Boston, MA 02215

SM4SC has garnered support from hundreds of Web 2.0-savvy individuals and corporations across the United States to raise funds for Jane Doe, Inc. SM4SC differs from other fundraising organizations by tapping into the social media world to get the word out through blogging, Digging, Tweeting on Twitter and other online tools. By harnessing these powerful applications, SM4SC feels it can make a major difference for important charity organizations.

To learn more about SM4SC, visit www.sm4sc.com

To RSVP Please Contact: Jessica Hasson, 323-710-3556, jessica[at]terpin.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Hello poor neglected blog – have you missed me?

I’m using you to show off my new business card designs:

SIDE A:

SIDE B:

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

(Also posted at Social Media World)

Recently my co-blogger (and friend) Jessica wrote an article on the ‘The “Corporification” of Humanity”, outlining her concerns that social media is turning individuals into corporate brands by having huge social media “friends” lists that turned out to be nothing more than ‘fans’ and ‘social media stalkers’.

While I can see her (and Technosailor’s) point. I respectfully disagree that this is something that social media has created. Individuals have always had circles of friendship – each circle becoming larger as you move the level of their knowledge and involvement in your life.

First, there’s your “closer than a brother” friends, who are always there for you and will drive 1,000 miles to pick you up when your car dies. These friends are rare and hard to find.

Then, there’s your “best friend” friends that you share a lot of your life with. This is a slightly larger group than the first one, but still small.

After that is your “friends.” These are the people you hang out with, but maybe don’t know every detail of your life. These people in social media would recognize your screen name and associate it with your real name. They know a handful of salient facts (i.e. where you live, what you do for a living and what you’ve been up to lately). In your local area, these are people who remember your birthday and make you a cake.This is a fairly medium sized group of people.

Then there’s your “acquaintances.” These are people who know your real name, but may not talk to you on a regular basis. In your local area, these are the people who know “of you”. These can also be people you work with who don’t know much about you, but they are friendly and you converse on a very basic intimate level.
In social media these are people who skim read your Twitter, blog and whom you’ve had direct discussion with (email, IM). Usually these people are “equals” in the social media world (i.e. they’re a blogger, podcaster or social media user at a similar level of interaction with you).

Finally there’s your “fans”. People who know you, but you may have only a passing knowledge of. In your local area, these are the people who’ve read your book or seen you perform in a play. They know little of you beyond your professional or creative life. In the social media world these are the readers of your blog, your followers on Twitter who don’t fit in the above sections, or the viewers/listeners to your podcast/vodcast.

Does having fans make you less human? In some respects yes – we see that in Hollywood celebrities. They become more than human through their fans. Instead, they become topics of discussion and disection. But even Hollywood celebs still have these circles of friends around them where they engage most of their time. But, most celebs who have a good presence with their fans inspire more loyalty and better sustainability than celebs who treat their fans badly.

The idea comes down to the idea of “the Tribe.”

What is the Tribe? The tribe is a group of your social media friends who have banded together over nothing more than a particular shared interest. The Tribe I belong to is mostly podcasters and podcast listeners. The term was coined (I believe) by fellow podcaster, Tee Morris.

How is the tribe different from just fans? The Tribe bands together to help other members out. For example, yesterday a member of our tribe, C.A. Sizemore, lost his wife. Within moments news had traveled through Twitter, email and blogs about Sizemore’s loss. One of the members of the tribe – Mae, started a Chip In account to help the family out. Within a couple hours they had already raised over $700 and many of the people who donated have never met Sizemore and only know “of him”, yet they felt compelled to act. Why? Because of the Tribe.

This is just one example of the power of people you may not have met in person. I know whenever I put a call out online, I get help beyond what some of my local “friends” have done in my life. So today appreciate your friends, fans or whomever is on the other end of your communication line. ‘Cuz, as the song says, “we all need somebody to lean on.”

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

So apparently my body is trying to tell me to slow down. On Monday it crashed hard.

I had been feeling sick since Friday but thought it was food posioning or the flu. Sunday I was feeling better, went to church and what not, woke up Monday and started throwing up again. Then, later that morning I felt so awful I asked my parents to take me into the ER.

Long story short, there’s a kidney stone that’s blocking one of the entry ways into my kidney. This blockage caused an infection that could kill off that area of my kidney. The doctors at the hospital I went to couldn’t remove the stone themselves and there’s a long waiting list for the hospital they wanted to send me to. So Tuesday evening they were talking about putting a tube in to drain that part of my kidney until I can get the surgery. I said no to the tube, especially after they warned me one of the risks would be the infection spreading to my lungs.  So I have antibodics, pain meds and the like and I’m trying to figure out what to do next. I am amazed that such a huge hospital with a urologist couldn’t remove a kidney stone. Apparently it’s harder than I had thought it to be. I’ve been resting and drinking fluids and the like, so thoughts and prayers can be directed towards the next step and figuring out what it is.

It’s times like these though that I really appreciate and love my virtual friends. I came back to my computer today after a long absence to find worried emails, thoughts, care and and amazing outpouring of love and support. Thankfully my friend Kim was able to post over at my LJ about what was going on.

I had been in a conversation a couple weeks ago about social media and being online and blah blah blah. A large percentage of people apparently don’t like getting on the computer after being on it all day at work. And part of me can understand that. But a huge amount of people, like myself, have a vast network of friends, “business” relationships and the like that exist in an entirely virtual setting. I am not sure what I’d do without that network. And anyone who laughs at the idea of having virtual friends has no idea what they’re missing – my friends have been the most supportive, loving, giving and “there for you” people you could ever meet. I really appreciate and love them for that.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I have been avidly involved in the internet since I was about 12. I remember when I first joined the internet culture my dad had gotten AOL and we were connecting at the lightening fast speed of “slower than a turtle”. I often brought a book along with me to wait out the connection and downloading times. Shortly after joining I found AOL groups and made a ton of friends in the Sherlock Holmes and mystery areas. Ever after that I was hooked. I joined groups, started IMing, blogged, chatted and did the whole forum posting thing. To this day I’m addicted to social networking.

In my own mind this isn’t something new. I’ve been doing for it so long it’s natural. I love the podiosphere (for podcasting), the blogosphere (for blogging) and have a lot of friends all over the world that I communicate and interact with on a daily basis. Yet, I forget that this still is intimidating and unfamiliar territory for other people.

I forget, that is, until someone reminds me.

This past Sunday I was explaining to a lot of different people at church about my job. And a lot of them are so far removed from using the internet for social networking that they go “Myspace-wha?” “Second Life-huh?”

Now these are not, by any means, dumb or slow people. These are very talented people who just haven’t “jacked in” to the web and all it has to offer. They email, google and stuff like that but the internet is a practical tool for them to navigate their own real life experience – not connect with people half-way around the world.

It’s fascinating to me to think people don’t blog, don’t listen to podcasts and don’t even really grasp the concept of Myspace. My dad (who has been listening to me talk about Twitter for the past couple weeks) mentioned it in his sermon a couple Sundays ago and got completely blank stares.

So social media taking over our lives I guess is still far away…. but I can’t wait to convert more people to it shiny and enticing ways.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.