The past few days have been interesting at best. I learned a lot about the social networking world and more importantly, about myself.
The details:
A few days ago Mari Smith posted a note on twitter about the Profile HTML box on Facebook. I loved the application and installed it on my profile page and wrote a quick twitter post about it. This prompted several questions from some Facebook connections. Instead of answering each of them individually, I created a how to blog post about the application. I included one very important element; I thanked Mari for letting me know about it. Through my twitter feed, the post automatically went up on twitter, Mari saw it, came to my blog, commented and let her followers know about the post via twitter. This generated a couple of hundred visitors to my blog. It is always fun to watch a traffic spike!
Lesson one: Always give credit where credit is due. If nothing else, it’s good karma.
A day or two later Chris Brogan wrote his Pirate Ship post. I loved it and after reading it, sent him a tweet about the “Lions and Tigers and Bears” post I wrote on Friday. I guess he liked it, because he twittered about it and provided a link to his followers. Again, this generated a couple of hundred new visitors to my blog and I got to watch another traffic spike.
Lesson two: Don’t be afraid to share, even if you’re not sure how well it will be received. Speak your mind and share your heart. If you are coming from your truth, you can’t go wrong!
On Sunday I participated in a blog posting campaign about Digg and I wrote my “Yes, Sir May I have another Digg” post. A bunch of bloggers were asked to share our opinion on the recent Digg bans. No one cared if you were for or against it; they just wanted some honest opinions. This is when all hell broke loose (at least for me). I created the post, which was eventually submitted to Digg, StumbleUpon, Mixx and other places.
I slept in on Monday morning (hey, it was a holiday) and received a wake up call that the servers were spiking, so I got up to take a look. My blog post along with one of my client’s, received some 4000 hits each at about the same time. The servers were fine, so I checked my traffic logs. Most of the traffic was coming from Digg so I decided to log in and see what was up. Both posts had received well over 300 votes (at that time), had gone popular and hit the front page of Digg. They also received a slew of comments (most not complimentary).
Lesson three: Don’t take anything personally regardless as to how defamatory it sounds. These people don’t know me and if they feel like questioning my motives, have at it.
I publicized both positive and negative comments I received on my blog, as this is about being transparent in the community. Soon after, I received a twitter alert in my email notifying me that I had been accused of plagiarism. I did not like that at all. I contacted the person via twitter and asked for an explanation. Unfortunately his tweet had already been retweeted by followers.
Lesson four: Always track your reputation.
Later in the day I received a phone call with an apology from the original poster. That made my day. There are people who just would not have cared and let the comment stand. The real professionals in this business know how important one’s reputation is and make good when called out on a comment. He tweeted his apology and I promptly contacted anyone who retweeted his original message and asked them to do the same, which all did.
Lesson five: Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself – ever!
Over all it has been very interesting few days. I was able to connect with people that I follow and respect a great deal, which alone was worth the effort. I didn’t make a penny off any of it, but I gained some followers, a few subscribers and enjoyed the ride. At the end of the day I was satisfied with the overall experience and felt I was put to the test. I utilized the core concepts I teach to my clients and found out for myself what it means to really put yourself out there and think I took the good and the bad with style and grace.
Lesson six: The only person that can beat you is you.
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