Category Archives: Blogging

“Because something is happening here…”

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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.

The World Wide Web has changed EVERYTHING.

Be Transparent So Your Fans Can Advocate For You

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WordPress software rockstar Matt Mullenweg wrote something in a recent blog post at WordPress.com which I thought was worth calling out:

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?

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be Transparent.

Where to find me when I’m not blogging…

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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.

Wanna Meet Other Bloggers in DC? Go to the DC Blogger Meetup.

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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.

Expanding Your Global Neighborhood (and Finally Meeting Some of Them Face to Face)

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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.

At the conference, I also had the pleasure today of meeting Kyle Hansen.  He wrote a blog post a while back which made a lot of people’s attention, including Shel’s.  He said “to my future boss: please let me blog.“  Kyle is an outstanding example of the revolution that is taking place with how people communicate.  He’s also very bright.

Someone in Washington DC, please hire Kyle.  We want him on this coast (he goes to school in Calif but is at an internship in DC).

I’m proud to say that Kyle is now a part of my global neighborhood.

The Web is and will change your life.  It will give you the opportunity to connect and meet truly amazing people.

Who have you met or been able to connect with via the Web?

Adding A Topic Page

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For a while, I’ve been keeping a list of relevant posts that I’ve written about in certain areas so that I could see what i’d been writing about  and more easily refer to some posts in posts i’d be writing later.

Well I’ve decided to start exposing that list in a topics page. 

As with all things with me and this blog, it’s an experiment.  Hopefully it will give you one more view into the content I write… exposing you to content I’ve written that maybe you haven’t seen before.

Blogs at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

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At the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Technical Plenary and Advisory Council week last week, there was concern that not enough people knew about the W3C blogs.

Well here is a list of some of the ones that I read…

There are probably more that I just don’t know about. Hopefully someone will send me those links

These blogs are a great opportunity to interact and have a conversation with those who have an influential role on the future of the Web.

Nick O’Neill Launches A New Blog – Social Times

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Washington DC’s very own Nick O’Neill has launched another blog called Social Times.  He’ll cover all aspects of social media and social networking.  His blog also has an offline component where he’ll help to promote social networking related events. Nick also writes for All Facebook and his personal blog The Webpreneur.

It’s exciting to see more activity in the DC Web scene.  I look forward to tracking Nick’s success with this blog and many others.

When The Week Gets Away From You

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It happens way to easily. You get crazy busy at work. You get home and you’re exhausted. The last thing on your mind is blogging. All you want to do is to relax and kill some brain cells by watching reality TV.

Well a huge part of blogging is writing consistently. The key is to get back on the horse again and just go at it. Don’t give up just because you haven’t posted in a few days.

So… Yeah this week was nuts for me. All I had on my mind after word was this really cool bottle of California Cabernet and watching season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen. Well now, it’s time to get back on the blogging train. The week got away from me but the weekend won’t.