Conversations, Interactions and Authenticity in Social Media

I just watched a video, suggested by Francine Hardaway, The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity that "woke me up" to what is happening and what could happen on the internet.

A quote from Mike Wesch about the Video & the research:

Nobody there was blindly optimistic, thinking technology was going to make everything better. They were all continually trying to figure out where we are, where we might be going, and the possible downsides and dangers of new technologies so we can use the new technologies to serve human purposes.

For anyone who is really truly engaged in Social Media or is driving to create meaningful conversations online should watch this video. If you are just online to spam marketing messages, spam comments for backlinks or "game the system: i.e. Google & others" then this isn't for you. But wait, yes it is...actually it is more for the spammers and "hit and run" marketing message droppers than anyone else.

This is the best 33 minutes I have spent online in long time.

The internet is evolving and so are we as communicators and information-a-holics. Prior to the internet we had the one-way conversation of the TV only. And the shaping it does to our minds, trends and pop culture is unrivaled until now.

I truly believe we will see the internet eclipse the TV because of the interaction, conversation and authenticity that can now flow from one to many or from many to many.

News is not just News anymore online - it becomes a conversation - albeit a vulgar and juvenile one at times but none the less a conversation that can breathe and give life to a story, event or occurrence.

The video by Mike Wesch, of The Machine is Us/ing Us Fame with over 10 million views and counting, really asks some questions that many of us are not considering but should be given that the internet is playing a HUGE role in our lives and the lives of billions around the planet.

Social Media and the internet have a place now and we have personal control of where it goes and how we choose to interact with it and others. We will always have the juvenile and immature behavior online but we also have a chance to really make decisions to be authentic and connect like we have never had a chance to before.

We can now connect without;

- feeling subconscious
- someone laughing in our faces
- telling us that our thoughts or ideas are irrelevant, or worse - stupid
- feeling the repercussions of revealing more than we would normally reveal face-to-face

This opens up huge opportunities to be authentic and supportive of each other thereby creating new conversations and communities that would have never been formed due to the potential for the lack of authenticity from a one-way conversation (TV), a face-to-face conversation or the distance that would normally separate us geographically.

We all now have a chance to create communities and be something more than what we may show, say or act like when at work, home, school or other face-to-face social situation.

Watch the video and then start your journey to be authentic, be real, create new conversations and create new communities. And then we can potentially create a new future of what social media can truly become.

LeapFish - Where Web Meets World

LeapFish released a new traditional, social and real-time search experience today.

I think a lot of people will perceive this as a release of "just another search engine" if they just read a press release or post and fail to go to the site. That couldn't be further from the truth with this new version of LeapFish. This is the first search engine that allows socialization of all discovered content at the click of a button.

Social media adoption is at unprecedented levels and content is truly becoming "king" as engines like LeapFish allow a simple sharing mechanism that is integrated into the search stream.

From the Press Release:

“Aside from the Web’s growing size and variety there is an emerging duality of “real-time” and “traditional,” which now requires a completely different search experience. One that includes both the content and the “contributor” in the search experience, such that both traditional and real-time searching and sharing are integrated seamlessly in our use of this Living Web,” said Ben Behrouzi."

This, in my opinion, was the missing step to a much larger movement in the search industry that is now moving away from static links and search results to a more dynamic search and socialization experience.

The best part of this release is that the combined searching and sharing functionality is only one of the incredibly innovative features that users will have access to when using LeapFish. My favorite feature is the customizable homepage that have feature-rich proprietary Twitter and Facebook apps that allow me to interact with my social communities without leaving my "personal dashboard to the web".

Go to http://www.leapfish.com/ dive into this new experience and start Living the Web.

Why "WE" Will Change the Web

The internet has always changed at a rapid pace. Recently (in the past 2 years) there has been a growing movement of real-time user generated interactions and content that is creating a completely new "internet" fueled by twitter, facebook and social media, essentially being fueled by "US".

Ben Behrouzi, posted an article today that captures the movement of the real-time web and how there is a need for integrating and sharing this new mountain of content that is created daily and how "WE" are creating the new "Web that will take the form of a living breathing database".

Excerpt from the article: Real-Time Search - 5 Reasons Why “We” Will Change the Web

"What is clear is that our daily use of the Real Time Web’s driving platforms — Twitter, Facebook and the like — is unprecedented. The Internet is no longer simply just a disconnected 3rd party container of tops down aggregation, “We” is now part of its determination. And, search as we know it will soon change to accommodate, thereby delivering a completely different experience of the Web."

The new web will require new tools to address the bottoms up approach to content and interactions that occur in real-time. Ben Behrouzi does an excellent job of giving us a sneak preview as to why this movement is critically important to the search industry and how "WE" are influencing the internet today.

Crush It! Is Cool...

I've always been a Gary V fan and I have enjoyed his principles and philosophies that he lives publicly. His new book "Crush It!" just hit the streets - its excellent and you get a deeper understanding of his philosophies as well as get some insight into what makes Gary tick.

Gary is real, unabashed and raw at times but THAT is what makes Gary who he is and why he is so loyally followed (and not just on twitter).

It's a fast read and you can pull some great nuggets from it if you are engaged in the online world or not. This is truly a book on "life-lessons" rather than just "online lessons".


His section on Authenticity is something that those online (and offline) really need to read and live - here is an excerpt from the book:

"If you want to dominate the social media game, all of your effort has to come from the heart; and it can’t come from the heart in the passionate, irrational, wholehearted way it needs to if you’re trying to be anyone but yourself. Authenticity is what will make it possible for you to put in the kind of hustle necessary to crush it"

Gary lives life on his terms and his authenticity blares through the usual "stuff" we see online.

Get his book, read it and then go out and do what you were designed to do - "Crush it!"

Business Athletes via Ben Behrouzi & Maverick Entrepreneurs - Cut from the same Cloth

I just read a great post, 10 signs of a Business Athlete, by Ben Behrouzi on his MaxStartup blog. He speaks to hiring Business Athletes rather than just hiring employee's. I like this one the best "#6 In any business, its important for team members to be able to make quick decisions with less than 100% of the necessary information"

Yanik Silver, cut from the same type of entrepreneurial cloth, also touched on a similar subject with his post about Maverick Entrepreneurs. This one is the best in my opinion "#20 Focus most of your time on your core strengths and less time working in areas you suck at."

Do you want to find out what it takes to have the edge in life? Read these two posts, print them out and put them up on your wall and read them everyday. The Business Athletes & Maverick Entrepreneurs won't need to do this because they already live it daily. But those that aspire to be a Business Athlete & Maverick Entrepreneur can't miss this opportunity to discover what their true potential is.