B&SM: Start me up!

Nicole Simon — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 19:40:05 -0600

No, this is not a post about the Rolling Stones and the Superbowl, but a catch-up post on what has happened around the topic "Blogging and Social Media" (B&SM) in the last days: A must read interview with Nancy White, model Anina's ultimatum from her agency to stop blogging, the freshest numbers from the blogosphere, communication roles between men and women, if we are friends or fans, if we are allowed to stop memes and how to (not) become a beauty for your husband.

First item on the list is an interview which is a lot to read, but I agree with Beth Kanter: The interview "Strategic Communication for Change: An Interview with Nancy White" about chat, online communities and social change is a must read!

Nancy and I talked about a lot of detailed steps that can be taken to facilitate real-time online group communication. We then discussed larger thematic issues of online "community." The topic of blogging as a support network for people struggling with medical issues was discussed at length, and is a great example of blogs doing very important human work outside of any technical field.

Nancy also shared some thoughts with me on bringing social change and non profit perspectives into any conversation. Finally, she had a lot of great ideas for how a conference can mix technical and social elements as well as structure and its absence to make sure that participants gain the most from attendance.

Another hot topic (at least in the European side of the blogosphere) last week was Anina, the blogging fashion model. Anina had some trouble with her agency and they had given her an ultimatum - either model or blog. Thankfully for her, the so called "mother agency" seems to have stepped in to help clear the situation. And as Debbie Jones brings up a valid question on blogher "To Blog or not to Blog: when your employer decides":

Do employers have the right to insist that employees don't blog? Can your employer dictate which passions you may or may not peruse?

It will not be easy to decide how much of your personal life is connected with your work life and how this may influence the way you can conduct your passion - at least for the moment, but this might change soon. We already do see social changes in the connected parts of the world due to blogging and other social media - and the data David Sifry of Technorati has just published (State of the Blogosphere, February 2006 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth) shows that the blogosphere is still growing in an enormous rate. Just some examples:

The blogosphere is doubling in size every 5 and a half months
It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour

So incidents like with Anina happen at the moment, because in many places it is still fresh to experience the different aspects of being a public person - but given the growth rate, I am expecting some clashes in the next 12-24 months. Because everybody will be doing it in one way or another and the impact of our blogs is so great, employers as well as normal businesses will have to deal with the newly connected human.

Hopefully this will also break up some other old rules, like male and female possibilities of communication. Tish G picks up this topic and expresses her frustration about different styles of communicating between men and women.

Old fashion employers, old fashioned role models and communication types - social media is so interesting and exiting to me because it helps to break patterns like "the alpha male wins, everybody else follows" or "be quit and nice" and others. In this connected world, there are so many places we can turn to; we don't need to stay in places we don't like We can walk different paths and be encouraged by others who are like minded. Blogher for example. :)

Social software also changes the way we see relationships, and Lisa Williams has a nice post about friends, acquaintances and being a fan of other bloggers. And yes, I would assume every one of my readers does know more about me than my neighbors!

One way to get to know a blogger is of course memes (at least in the beginning they are funny). Feel the need to continue such a meme? Well, don't. Read Makiko Itoh post on memes and just don't do it if you don't feel up to.

Make better use of your time and get a smile instead from reading Jenny Lauck on how she tried to be the seducing beauty for her husband! :)

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B&SM: Start me up!