The fun doesn’t stop there. My friend and renowned designer Samantha Warren is also a finalist in the blog category of the SXSW Web Awards for her blog Bad Ass Ideas.
But wait, there’s more. Ficlets, the collaborative story telling Web app written by my friends Kevin, Jason and Cindy, is a finalist for SXSW Web awards in the CSS and Community categories.
The winners will be announced the evening of Sunday March 9th. Whomever wins, the first celebratory pitcher of beer will be on me.
I think blogging is one of the best ways to market yourself and show the world your ideas. It’s also a great way to get your resume or cv in front of people.
Since I started the latest incarnation of this blog, I’ve had over 450 views on my resume. When is the last time that you handed out 450 copies of your resume?
So… get out there. Show the world that there is an amazing thinking bright human being inside you. Give it time, work hard, and people will notice.
In a recent post on Facebook’s corporate blog, Carolyn Abram talks about how Facebook users should not be listening to rumors about Facebook that are passed around via chain letters, Wall messages, and third-party applications.
So… let me think about this…
If you’re transparent about what you’re doing and actually give people real information, why would they spread rumors?
If Facebook actually talked more about what was going on people wouldn’t spread stupid rumors. They’d be talking about all the amazing things Facebook has going on.
Today while at work I watched the video from Leo Laporte’s keynote at the Blog World Expo this last November. Leo has always proved to be an extraordinary public speaker and he lived up to this with this keynote.
He talked about the social media revolution and he quoted a portion of the Bob Dylan song Ballad of a Thin Man, which I thought was really cool:
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Something is happening here and there are days where you can’t predict what’s going to happen day to day.
One thing is for sure. We are amidst a revolution.
Media, entertainment, communication… how people exchange information will never be the same again.
We haven’t done as good a job as we used to about blogging the constant improvements being made to the site. (We deploy changes to the site anywhere from 5 to 20 times a day!) It’s something I think we can do better in the rest of December, and hopefully keep up the good habit through 2008.
I’m a big BIG fan of WordPress and all the things they’re doing. Generally, when companies I like do cool things, I like to tell people I know. I’ll blog about, pownce about, tweet about it, and talk about it. I’m a cheerleader for companies that have served me well.
I think WordPress realized something BIG. If they’re not transparent with what’s going on in their company and their product, when they do cool things, their cheerleaders and fanboys can’t advocate for them, which is exactly what they want.
I wonder how many companies work really hard and wonder why no one notices. Could it be that you’re not telling people about what you’re doing?
Every once and a while you’ll notice that i’ve gone a day or two without blogging. This doesn’t mean that i’ve gone completely off the grid. It just means that I’ve probably gotten really busy between my work and after work lifes.
Chances are that during a lull you can probably find some type of my activity on a number of different Web 2.0 applications…
If you wanna keep up on my various comings and goings when I’m not blogging, by all means please add me as a contact or friend on one of these services.
If it’s possible to put in a message with your “friend request”, just say that you read my blog.
I have talked to a number of people who want to understand social media better but don’t know where to go to meet people who are already in the industry. Well next week there will be a DC Blogger Meetup on Wednesday, December 12 at Piola in Arlington, VA. This is a great event to attend! I unfortunately can’t make it but Geoff Livingston and crew will be there so you know it’ll be a party.
I remember when I got into the World Wide Web for the first time. I was just a boy in mid-Michigan sitting in front of a computer with my dad. The world seemed very large and incredibly inaccessible. That was all about to change.
With the Web, information and people become infinitely more accessible. You get to meet people on the other side of the state, the other side of the country, or even the other side of the world who have common interests to you. Before my friends would have been restricted by who I lived geographically near. With the Web, this all changed very dramatically.
A few years ago, Shel Israel to me was just a guy who I admired, co-authored a book about blogging, and lived on the other side of the country. Because of the Web and specifically our blogs, we were able to connect and I now consider Shel to be an old friend. He’s become what he likes to call part of my “global neighborhood.”
I could have never imagined that I would have had the opportunity to get to know and become friends with Shel but that’s the power of the Web. It has the ability to allow to people from different backgrounds, ages, and parts of the world who have a similar interests or passion to get to know one another, form a conversation, and start a friendship. It’s sooo cool.
Today, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Shel in person at the Social Media in Government conference that was being held in Washington DC. It was a blast. If Shel didn’t have a plane to catch, i’m confident the conversation could have gone on for most of the day.
The crew over at the CommonCraft Show have put up another phenomenal video, “Blogs in Plain English.“ If you have friend or co-worker who doesn’t understand what the big deal is with this blogging stuff, this is a GREAT video to show them.
