NETWORKING FUN FOR THE INTROVERTED: The Applause Meter

Networking Fun for the Introverted with Wendy Kovitz

In the few short months that I've been active on Twitter I've seen some momentous Trending Topics like the Iran Election and Michael Jackson's death. Everyone had something to say and the system was often too crowded to get on to say it. Yet we persisted, feeling empowered to see ourselves as part of the bigger picture as history plays out before our eyes 24/7.

Ice Cream and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin"
For at least a day, "Ben & Jerry's" and "Hubby Hubby" made it onto Twitter's Trending Topics as the ice cream formerly known as "Chubby Hubby" was renamed in support of marriage equality. LGBT/Equality rights enthusiasts ate up the positive message. A few short days later,

"a new and not-so-subtle bit of gay bashing came in the form of the hashtag #uknowhowiknowurgay which immediately hit the top Trending Topic spot with commentary that ranged from the bizarre to the truly homophobic."- from "Twitter and Censorship"

Quickly, the LGBT community and its supporters countered with numerous Tweets of #Yaygay. That was until Twitter removed both hashtags from the Trending Topics as a type of censorship to keep the peace. All Tweets are still in cyberspace, but Twitter just isn't broadcasting their popularity.

There are many, many opportunities to be offended while using Twitter. It could just as easily be a Trending Topic on Blacks, Jews, Latinos, Catholics... Recently I caught Whoopie Goldberg on BBC's "Hardtalk" talking about use of the "n" word. Her opinion was "it's a word." Use it if you want, whether you're white or black, but "be prepared to face the consequences." Twitter, of all the forms of social media, is not for the faint of heart, but it begs the question of what, where, when, how and why we censor things.

Political Death to the Czars
Let me begin this by saying that I am not a political pundit, nor do I think most of the political pundits out there are qualified to spin life to suit their agendas. We're all human. We're all bombarded with facts, half-truths, lies and fantastical gibberish and have to make some sort of personal sense out of it. That's why G-d gave us brains and chutzpah. When we can get them to work in tandem, we're unstoppable. Otherwise...

It appears that the Left and Right have been cyber-slugging it out a lot lately about health care reform and President Obama's speech to our country's children. Both sides have been getting down to grass-roots campaigns to flood Washington with their political objectives. What I found most interesting was the allegation that one-by-one the Right wants to scrutinize each and every Czar appointed by President Obama, as in the case of Van Jones, and work towards supplying the muck needed to force them to resign or worse. At first look I was completely flabbergasted. If someone gets through the President's selection process, let the man or woman do their job without the constant backlash of disgruntled opponents who are working to slow down progress.
But there's never just a first look for me.

In Adam's last article "Understanding the Networking Revolution" he enumerates disciplines that are important to the understanding of social networking. Thanks to a recent Google alert, I came across Andrew Lehman's blog: The Evolving Now and I've been following his thoughts on physics and biology and how they apply to social media. Here are two quotes from "Speed"

"a powerful feature of this identity shift is one where the commons becomes highly valued and contribution to the community is revered... The communities of our youth are far more than the few people in a local tribe. Hundreds, if not thousands, of self-selected individuals, folks connected to massive self-selected networks of their own, are coming together."

“As the speed of information increases, the tendency is for politics to move away from representation and delegation of constituents toward immediate involvement of the entire community in the central acts of decision.” (Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964, p. 152)

Can McLuhan's Tetrad apply to how we view democracy?

• Enhancement: What the medium amplifies or intensifies.
• Obsolescence: What the medium drives out of prominence.
• Retrieval: What the medium recovers which was previously lost.
  
• Reversal: What the medium does when pushed to its limits.

What if technology is really making it possible for every voice to count? On every decision? Could we as a people be moving that much closer to a true democracy where the sheer numbers define the course of the country at every given juncture? Is that empowering or terrifying? Maybe a little of both? What are your thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by,
Wendy Kovitz
http://www.Twitter.com/wlkovitz
http://BookOfAra.blogspot.com

But wait! There's More...

Homeless and Tech Savvy?
This article is from InsideTech.com and talks about how job loss can affect any of us, and how one woman got around the subsequent loss of address to become a success story.

“Homeless people don’t use the Internet, they don’t write blogs, they’re not webmasters and they don’t use Twitter. They are alcoholics, they are substance abusers, they are illiterate. They don’t work. They sure as hell don’t have the right to fall in love. Do they?” - Matthew Barnes in "Homeless Blogger Scores a Job with Elle Magazine."

Sleuthing Time!
Another article from InsideTech.com gives us "non-creepy, legal" ways to "Stalk Your Way to a New Job" by familiarizing yourself with the man or woman you'll face in the interview using all of the social media at your disposal. Trust me, they're doing more than Googling you.

- Until next time!

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NETWORKING FUN FOR THE INTROVERTED: The Applause Meter

NETWORKING FUN FOR THE INTROVERTED: By Their Tweets Ye Shall Know Them

Networking Fun For The Introverted
with Wendy Kovitz, Cyberian of Networking*

I've spent the past few weeks enjoying the fast and often furious world of Twitter, engaging in banter with hardly more words than a fortune cookie with mostly complete and total strangers. Why?

Some mother's helper article once touted how much can be accomplished in only 15 minutes around the home if you just put your mind to it. Make small and achievable goals and just "GET IT DONE!" Fifteen minutes may get some socks folded or vanquish a sink of dirty dishes, but try to do Access programming with only 15 minutes of "alone brain time" and see what happens in a house with three young boys.


KISS (keep it simple, stupid)

Talk about an uphill struggle for a creative writer of soap opera epics who has never been able to come up with a title or one sentence synopsis for anything to save my life. But I persevere, because I seem to be in very good cyber company. How annoying is it to try to read the most recent Update and work down the list to where the sentence or thought started in the first place? I'm 40 years old and so frugal that I've had the messaging service turned off on my cell phone, perhaps that's why I'm perplexed by abbreviations of words, thoughts and even, dare I say it, logic.

For a really great article (written in Tweet style, no less), please see Paul Constant Reviews Twitter. Just one of his points:

"And the arguments are delightfully public, for anyone to see. Twitterfighting isn't a verb yet, but I hope it soon will be."

"Doctor Facebook and Mrs. Twitter"

I was not entirely happy with the Chairman's appraisal of my online networking escapades thus far, but it does smack of truth. Though I love Facebook for re-connecting me with long-lost friends and relatives, there is much to be said for the freedom of expression one can find among strangers on Twitter. Twitter is so deceptively duplicitous in its intent - you only have 14o characters to make a point! Surely even the busiest person can whip out a few keystrokes and be connected in Twittertopia! The other difference I discovered was that while networking with roughly the same amount of people on each site Facebook is completely filled with people I know (at least fairly well) and Twitter is almost completely the opposite. The irony here is that my Twitter strangers probably know me better than most face-to-face friends and acquaintances.

There is something to be said for face-to-face networking, and most of it good. What is it about its absence that allows us to so quickly disintegrate into virtual chaos? I read a great article in this month's Scientific American by Michael Tennesen called "Avatar Acts". In it he talks about the virtual evils such as rape, theft and murder perpetrated by predators on the unsuspecting and discusses what if anything should be done to protect the estimated $1 billion annual in virtual commerce along with our virtual health and well-being.


Liberal Libra at Large

How then can a serene, open-minded soccer mom manage to provoke the wrath of not one but two gay, gun-toting, Republican neo-cons? Perhaps if I had gotten the recommendation to read some very sound advice regarding what to share and with whom from a college friend of mine I wouldn't have entered the realm of politics, religion and other such taboo items so quickly.

From the Ultimate Facebook Guide by Kevin Eklund:

Reconsider Sharing Controversial Content

"Just remember however, that not everyone is interested in discussing such controversial issues in an attempt to find solutions."

Take my seemingly innocuous statement regarding the President's address a couple of weeks ago:

"Good to hear #Obama talking about #relationshipCapital and fostering partnerships with other countries instead of forcing US agenda."

Yes, I tagged him with #relationshipcapital even though he didn't say it, because he meant it. Obama gets it.

It later was re-tweeted by a man I shall refer to as Angry2:

"tlking is for weenie commie symps".

In all fairness, I had accused the Republican party of defecating on the equality agenda, a point to which my Twitter pals vehemently objected. But in equal fairness to accuracy, I had been reacting to Angry1 when he said (in reference to the President):

"BHO sez he is 95% cured of smoking. Was Ted Bundy 95% cured of murder if he took a day off? Just askin."

So, they blocked me because Angry2 decided that I was trying to "bait them into a rant. " Is a healthy discussion of differing beliefs really such a bad thing? Of all people, I wasn't expecting this from members of a community that I've defended over Thanksgiving meals and other such intimate social forums since college. Perhaps I may not be as savvy as the next person when it comes to politics, but is there no common ground in the world or in our own backyards?

Lest anyone think I'm using this for a purely pro-Democratic agenda, I must say that I do respond to eye-catching Tweets about the socialist (i.e. Democratic) plot to take over the world, as long as I don't feel that my intelligence or my beliefs are being personally attacked. It's Twitter, for goodness sake, not exasperated kitchen table politics with family members of differing persuasions. There's the sense that we can "speak" our mind and someone, somewhere is "listening".

I'm determined to keep on looking with rose colored glasses, not of the world as it is, but the world as it could be. Anyone with me?


Next Month...

I'll be interviewing Wyatt from Pan Historia "a community for collaborative fiction and role play writing. "


Wendy Kovitz
Cyberian of Networking
http://EpicInABottle.blogspot.com

*Views expressed are solely those of the writer and in no way reflect the overall mission of The National Networker.


For more information, please visit Wendy's TNNW Blog or connect on Twitter.




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NETWORKING FUN FOR THE INTROVERTED: By Their Tweets Ye Shall Know Them

How to hinder, not help, social networks

From Joe Brennan Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc.

Joe offers Perspective on how government's steps to keep social networking safe for minors may backfire. It's the difference between throwing around the "right" words or taking the right actions (as MySpace has tried to do).

It's time for government to take a good hard look at the (perhaps unintended) long-term harm it may be doing to American digital innovators and entrepreneurs.

The United States needs sound policy--not petty politics--to maintain and strengthen our position as the world's technology leader. We need cooperation between Internet firms, government, parents, and informed kids to protect against online predators. And, we need to fully embrace technology as the way to better address potential problems, rather than laws targeting innocent Web users and companies.

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How to hinder, not help, social networks

The Impact of Publications on Networking (Part 2)

By Matthew Best, Political Editor

Last month we started to explore the relationship between political publications and networking by interviewing Chris Voccio of The Pennsylvania Republican for a conservative take on the issue.

This month I had an opportunity to interview Mike Lazzaro - known as “Hunter” on Daily Kos. Daily Kos, in case you were not aware of it, is the most visited political blog in the world. According to Mike, Daily Kos is a community website dedicated towards progressive, liberal and Democrat Party goal. It exists to influence the agenda by reporting on what’s going on and have opinions and providing a forum for those opinions.

When I asked Mike about what impact networking had on the website he said that what they are attempting to do at Daily Kos would be difficult without the internet. The Internet “allows people to come together with common interests” from all over the world, whereas previously, geographic boundaries isolated communities. “The internet allows interest groups to operate on a national level and as a result – have exponentially more influence than 100’s of local groups could ever have.”

I asked Mike what kind of impact the website had on networking. He mentioned that it has been slow in making an impact on politics, but recently Daily Kos has been seen as more of a part of the national media stream and hence had more influence on the Party and the media. “Our site is changing how politicians interact with constituencies because we can organize nationally. Subgroups start to form by states or causes making these subgroups more efficient structures.” Overall geography is not a barrier as it once was.

One of the main reasons I wanted to interview Mike was because of Daily Kos’ uniqueness. Beyond the number of hits the site receives every day, the site has also done some interesting activities to test “online work in the real world,” as Mike puts it.

The website sponsored a conference “Yearly Kos,” to gather fans of the site along with activists. “People wanted to test if online action and activism could have real world effects. So the conference was really an experiment.” It was a success by their standards and they have since renamed the conference “Netroots National Convention,” to expand the focus of the conference and cover what the convention is really about – online grassroots activism.

When I asked Mike for his thoughts on how well publications were tapping into established social networks, he said that they “don’t do a good job of tapping into each other,” or blogs, Facebook, etc. Mike stated that he didn’t know why it hasn’t happened yet beyond to answer that he thinks that most of the publications aren’t sure how to yet.

Lastly, I asked Mike about what trends he saw in political networking. He said that political networks are “getting larger and more professionalized” when it comes to online networking. He mentioned that the trend is to move away from the many “single-voice communities” like blogs where only one person is writing to multi-voice communities. The reason for this trend is that “members are demanding higher levels of quality” which means there is more work, and too much work for just one person anymore. Mike’s thought about trends in online publications is that they will continue to look more and more like newspapers, “but where the community writes the content.”

Stay tuned next month for an interview I did on government, business, and networking.

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The Impact of Publications on Networking (Part 2)

PR Web: Podcast Interview Series Analyzes Latest PA Election Results

Podcast Interview Series Analyzes Latest PA Election Results: The Keystone Report on Good Politics Radio

Host of the Keystone Report on Good Politics Radio, Matt Best, interviews Brett Lieberman, political news reporter about the recent elections in PA. Coming interviews are with two political science professors at Grove City College.

Olympia, WA (PRWEB) November 22, 2007 -- The Pennsylvania Keystone Report on Good Politics Radio presents an interview series providing expert analysis of the recent November elections. Host of the Pennsylvania keystone Report, Matt Best recently interviewed political news reporter Brett Lieberman about the statewide judicial retention races, the changes in the county courthouses, and the impact that this year's elections will have on the 2008 national elections. This lively interview is available online at www.pa.goodpoliticsradio.com. Lieberman is the Washington correspondent for the Harrisburg Patriot News and has covered elections for TV, radio, and print.

Listen now...

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PR Web: Podcast Interview Series Analyzes Latest PA Election Results

The Impact of Publications on Networking (Part 1)

By Matthew Best, Political Editor Matthew's Bio Email article to a friend

Here are a few questions for you – how do publications affect networking? Do networks affect publications? Which came first the publication or the network?

These are questions you probably hadn’t thought of, but are certainly interesting to ponder. I decided to tackle those very questions by looking at the world of political publications. I interviewed individuals from a traditional print publication and from an online publication. Also, to make this a balanced look, I interviewed individuals from both the left and right side of the political spectrum to see what their thoughts were. I think you’ll find the answers interesting.

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The Impact of Publications on Networking (Part 1)

Lessons Learned in Political Networking

By Matthew Best, TNNW Political Editor

It’s been said that Thomas Edison conducted 10,000 experiments before he got the light bulb right. When asked if he ever felt like giving up during all those failed experiments, he answered that he didn’t fail 10,000 times at all – he merely found 10,000 ways not to do it.

And so it is with networking. Since networking is a jungle, there are at least 10,000 ways in which people are "failing" each and every day. Some times the best way to learn how to do something a better way is to learn how not to do it.

A great example of this was a recent e-mail I received about one of the numerous presidential debates that have been going on for several months now. This debate was sponsored by a large on-line news site that targeted their audience to a specific group of voters. I receive a ton of e-mail each day announcing debates, candidate positions, events, etc. What made me read the entire e-mail can best be explained as a great example of how not to get candidates to a debate. The sponsor of the debate announced the debate, but then proceeded to complain that the top-tier candidates were going to be no-shows.

Which leads to a nice concise set of lessons I’ll share with you about how to get candidates to ignore you. The same lessons apply to networking as well.

Lesson 1

Criticize the top-tier candidates. That’s right, that’s the easiest way for candidates to ignore you in the future. Why would anyone in their right mind decide to show up at the last minute after you just called them a "gutless wonder?" That’s not an exaggeration either, the moderator did just that.

In networking, how effective are you when you criticize someone else? How likely are they to connect with you? The simple answer is that they aren’t going to. In fact, they will do all they can to cut ties with you. Do you like to associate with people who judge you or what you do in a critical fashion right off the bat?

Lesson 2

Make your debate announcement more about the moderator than the candidates and debate. I’m not stretching it here, but at least one-third of the debate announcement was about the moderator - his background, a sales pitch for his latest book, etc. When you include quotes by the moderator in the e-mail, at least half of the announcement is about the moderator and not about the candidates or the debate.

The networking lesson here is simple – Remember - it’s not about you. If it is all about you, people can see through that. If you approach networking with a genuine interest in the other person, they will see that as well.

Lesson 3

Inadvertently downplay the candidates who decide to participate. The announcement identifies the top-tier candidates, which means the other candidates are what - second-tier at best, or not to be taken seriously at worst. Why not thank the candidates who are deciding to participate and raise them up. I don’t know, maybe something to the effect that "this debate will give the candidates who participate a platform and an opportunity to set themselves apart from the crowd."

Again, it’s all about the other person when it comes to networking. So maybe you aren’t connected to hundreds of people, or to someone you deem to be "really important." So what! Who are you connected to? Why not show your appreciation to those people who thought it important enough to connect with you. Reach out to them every now and then and show your appreciation to them.

Lesson 4

Make the debate as long as possible. The debate was set to run for three hours according to the announcement. You saw that correctly, three hours. I pity the candidates who are participating. Debates aren’t supposed be as long as some faster runners take to finish a marathon.

It’s one thing to invest time into your relationships – especially in this day and age of the thirty-second sound bite, drive thru lunches, instant communications, etc. It’s quite another to waste people’s valuable time. Time is one of our most valuable resources. When you respect other people’s time, they appreciate it and will generally give you a little more time.

Given these lessons, I’m not surprised that the top-tier candidates decided to skip this debate. Would you skip out on a connection given the same circumstances? Some of the best lessons out there are the mistakes that other people make. Hopefully the mistakes I’ve presented here will help you become a better networker.

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Lessons Learned in Political Networking

Matthew Best on Good Politics Radio

Matthew Best is the newest podcaster with Good Politics Radio. Matt lives in Carlisle, Pa, and will be podcasting and writing for the Pennsylvania GPR channel.

Matt has an amazing resume of experiences. He has worked for a U.S. Representative and for a Pa. state legislator. He has also worked for a lobbying organization. And he has experience working for political campaigns.

Additionally, Matt is involved with several political ventures online. He is the political editor for The National Networker, a portal website dedicated to networking activity and information, and Matt’s writings and interviews can be seen here. He is also working on a new website called Linked to Politics, which is all about networking in politics.

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Matthew Best on Good Politics Radio

Obama catches fire with netroots

By Salena Zito
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 8, 2007

Total 2007 primary dollars raised: $55.7 million.

Total 2007 number of individual donors: 258,000.

In a word, Barack Obama's second-quarter fundraising numbers are shattering. There never has been anything like it. For a guy who was in the Illinois Senate three years ago not only to be in the top tier of his party's fundraising but to have raised the most of any candidate in a quarter is mind-boggling.

One thing Obama's success does speak to is the maturation of the "netroots": If you have an incredible story and a compelling case to be made, you can catch fire among the political activists in the blogosphere. It's not always about a thick Rolodex and an institutional operation. A fantastic chapter in politics has not been written about the netroots movement -- and that is, how does a candidate cross the threshold of being presidential while maintaining the cause that enabled him to catch fire?

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Obama catches fire with netroots

This Week on TNNW...

eWomenNetwork Inspires Attendees
By GLEN GOULD, Southeast Bureau Chief

It bills itself as "the #1 resource for connecting and promoting women and their businesses on both a local and global scale" and one would be hard pressed to argue the point. eWomenNetwork is the most popular networking website for women, reaching nearly 5 million women every month.

Northwest-Based Group BIZNIK Goes Global - New Site & First Conference
By LORI RICHARDSON, Northwest Bureau Chief

A lot behind the scenes has been going on for the networking group BIZNIK, whose tagline is: Networking that Doesn’t Suck. Their mission: A Business Building Social Network for Independent Professionals. I wrote about this group some time ago, and continue to be amazed by their creativity, initiative, response to customer feedback, and for turning the idea of networking on its ear.

A Different Kind of Campaign
By MATTHEW BEST, Political Editor

This month I turn my attention to presidential politics – the 2008 election is closer than you think, especially with all the Democrat and Republican primaries stacked in January and February of next year. There have already been several debates among the announced candidates from both parties. A few things are especially unique about the 2008 presidential election though.

Can You Generate a Network by Simply Creating a Space?
By ANN BARCLAY SLOAN, * Women's Networking Editor

SisterSpace.net, the on-line radio site Sharon Riegie Maynard created just about two years ago, has become a hub and networking place for a variety of individuals and groups involved in personal-growth, artistic and activist projects - linking women literally all over the world.

Networking Your Website
By Rita Wilhelm, Contributing Writer

The internet is changing. People are communicating online as never before. One of the primary means of communication is through something called a blog.

According to Technorati data, there are over 175,000 new blogs created every day. Bloggers update their blogs regularly to the tune of over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second!

People, Power & Possibiliites
By Donna Fisher, Contributing Writer

I've always been a proponent of networking as, not just a business development tool, but a way of life, way of relating to the people around you and a tool for creating greater good for our world. In fact, I first learned about the power of networking many years ago when I was the executive director of the Center for Attitudinal Healing. We provided support for children with catastrophic illnesses and their families. And we "had to" network all the time for everything. The idea of asking people to give, help, and be a resource became just a natural part of our way of thinking, relating and communicating. And I saw, over and over, the value that people received from getting involved – just because we asked.

Power Thought of the Week
By Patricia Parham, Ph.D., Contributing Writer

Made in America

If your business is located in the U.S., use that information to your networking advantage – it’s a big plus with your compatriots. Provide high quality products and services even if they might be obtained internationally. Be competitive and blatantly appeal to patriotism and supporting local businesses in order to build more viable and vibrant communities where you stand, strengthening your business in the process.

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This Week on TNNW...

April - Week 2 at TNNW

Headline: Jumping the Networking Shark, Part II. By Adam J. Kovitz

Northwest: Going Green. By LORI RICHARDSON
Southeast: Atlanta Jaycees. By GLEN GOULD
Hawaii: SPOTLIGHT ON KEHAU KALI. By SANDY C. MCKEE

Health & Wellness: Fiona Fry- a well-balanced networker. By CHRIS SOPA
Politics: What is Political Networking? By MATTHEW BEST

Networking Your Website. By RITA WILHELM
People, Power & Possibilities. By DONNA FISHER
Power Thought of the Week. By PATRICIA PARHAM, Ph.D.
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April - Week 2 at TNNW

Jacked In: Politicians hit up social-networking sites for support. By Peter Suderman

Here’s an article on political networking from National Review recommended by:

Matthew Best
Best Solutions

"Unleashing Courage"
www.somedayisland.com
matt@somedayisland.com

Political Editor, The National Networker

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Jacked In: Politicians hit up social-networking sites for support. By Peter Suderman