Tag Archives: Social Media

I was an Age of Conversation Contributor and Didn’t Even Know It

This is a short post about social media going full circle. Not about long lost relatives, or high school buddies, but a story about social network and social media and why people should just get it.

This morning I checked my email to find a LinkedIn request from Jay Ehret. I don’t know Jay Ehret, but thanks to LinkedIn they require a little information to invite connections. According to Jay, I was a “Business Partner” (more like contributor) to the new Age of Conversation book coming out later this year. This is not completely out of the blue, a few months ago I did contact the editors about contributing, but never heard back. In the meantime, I changed jobs — alas, email — and assumed they found better, more qualified, more enlightening contributors than I could ever be.

But wait, there’s this random guy who said I am. So I did a little research, and found my name on a list of 275 people.

So I contacted Drew and Gavin, hoping it’s not too late to provide a chapter for the new 2008 edition of “Age of Conversation: Why Don’t People Get It?”. Of course it is, they’ve tried contacting me at MaineToday.com and never heard from me. Darn. Maybe next year.

But the point — social media was used to connect with me about writing about social media. Even better, the premise of the book is that people don’t get it. What’s not to get? Here’s your example.

And I’m still going to get the book.

Another conversation on the way

Drew McLean and Gavin Heaton are doing it again – there’s a call out for contributors a new collaborative project as a follow up on the Age of Conversation. The clever minds behind this new breakthrough project is also asking for input on themes for this next book. My personal favorite is “Why don’t people get it?” This way there’s an opportunity to demonstrate some actionable steps that help us get out of a rut. But you can vote for yourself!

OK, OK … Beacon has got a creepy factor

Some friends have been emailing me, asking if I’ve lost it completely regarding my last post. I’m not going to reiterate all of the privacy concerns Facebook’s Beacon is incurring all over the place. I know I posted how Busted Tees published my latest holiday purchase right there on my profile. Yes, I agree – it’s creepy. And they really, really need a very clear opt-out mechanism. But you have to admit, it’s a whole new level of behavioral advertising. Whether it’s effective or not we’ll have to see. That’s the selling point for me.