Comments on: Who Do You Know? (Part I)

By: Andrea Martell

Andrea Martell — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:39:41 +0000

I love your blog, and I look forward to Phase II. I spend a lot of time thinking what difference I will have made in the world after I am gone. It's always driven me, but it has gone into overdrive in recent months. It's great what you're doing. Please just @reply me so I don't miss your posts!!!

By: Andrea Martell

Andrea Martell — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:39:41 +0000

By: ItStartsWithUs

ItStartsWithUs — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:24:09 +0000

Okay, before my dad takes too much of a hit, I want to say that I just used him as an example of someone who tends to see the negative aspects of new technology, rather than the positive. He's actually a VERY nice guy, haha. (Hi dad!)

So yeah, I'm just getting started as a content creator on the social media scene, and you know what platform has impressed me the most? Twitter. I'd say that a good 90% of the things I've learned in the last month can be attributed to that service. It's amazing to be able to follow the thought and attention streams of some of the smartest and coolest people around. Think about that: what we're able to easily do right now has never before been possible in the history of the world. Wow.

By: Gerri

Gerri — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:54:02 +0000

Having thousands of contacts has made me a much more social person than I would be otherwise. While some relationships are not as deep as others, I value all the contact and communication I have with other people. I don't use social networking to broadcast, I use it to interact. These may be fighting words, but your dad is wrong.

I look forward to watching your blog grow!

By: ItStartsWithUs

ItStartsWithUs — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:44:25 +0000

I agree with you, David, but the naysayers have a point: it DOES depend on how you use it. For instance, there are some Twitter celebrities (and non-celebrities) who simply use the platform to collect hundreds of thousands of followers, just to prove that they're “more important” than someone esle. That's the extreme end of the spectrum, though, so let's throw them out of the equation.

Overall, I agree that the interconnectedness that the web has brought us is a fantastic thing. It allows us to forge friendships . . . REAL friendships . . . with people across distance and (sometimes) time. It gives us the ability to do some things that we've never done before – to make an impact on this world that our great-grandparents could never have imagined. My small contribution is what I want to talk about on Thursday.

By: David Cain

David Cain — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:17:31 +0000

I think the internet is making the world a considerably LESS shallow place. It's never been easier to communicate in real-time with people from all sorts of cultures and geographical locations. I believe the Net is a crucial factor in humanity getting to know itself a lot better. Prejudice and presumption have a harder time surviving when it's this easy to pass information around. The next ten years are going to be huge for humanity, as the communication channels get bigger and deeper at a ridiculous pace.