A.Connector

A.Connector Cast#6

Facebook A.Connector Group survey question: Hi fellow connectors I’m curious. When you connect people-how important is the “thank you” from one or more of the parties you connect?
Howard Greenstein
Maia Whitaker Edward Vielmetti Jack Hosley Jim Stanger Rich Palmer Paul Swansen Derek Mehraban
Amazingly I got responses from over 13% of the group. This is very novel to me. As a podcaster/blogger my experience has been only a small fraction, or tip of the iceberg respond. No complaints-I love hearing what people think and have to say.

A Facebook application observation expressed via an old saying. Share some Chinese cultural observations.

New Find: 1938 Media-Loren Feldman. Anti-Social Media a good place to start. This guy is a riot. Some rough language so be warned.

Food for thought-Are you good at receiving thank yous and compliments?

Eyes half-open and learning something

It is still my early morning here and I’m getting caught up on Google reader news-one item is sad(but inevitable) and uplifting: Liz Claiborne dies yesterday after a long fight with cancer. My condolences to her family. Carleen Hawn has written a very informative piece on this great lady and mother of a connector here.

Liz Claiborne Inc was the first Fortune 500 company founded by a woman. Man too bad my Nana never met her that would have been something, two tough female contemporaries involved in women’s fashion.

Kudos to Liz and her drive and accomplishments. This is a good quote to close on from the Hawn piece:
Clairborne will be always remembered for the fact she is a brand. This is a great accomplishment to be a brand [in a high competing field such as fashion].
Rest in piece, you’ve changed the world.

Interrupted Connection

Just getting over a nasty summer cold that has had me both cloudy-headed and sounding funny. Should record the next episode later today. Been using the time to fine tune some of my Google search techniques for new business leads-looks promising.

Some good news about a previously mentioned friend and successful social connector via podcast and blog-Jack Mangan. He’ll be moving back to Arizona soon which he’s very happy about. That makes me happy too. As a former east coast transplant to Arizona, I can certainly empathize with choosing the sun and open space of Arizona. Regarding the blistering summer? Hmm, my mother always reminds me, “it’s a dry heat.”

Another one of my featured new media connectors, Mur Lafferty has just wrapped up her initial podcast, “Geek Fu Action Grip.” Mur is not exactly slacking off, she is still very busy with other podcasts and production work as well as new job at Lulu.TV

Resume on a Prim?

Well needless to say I was some what taken aback when I saw a link to this Wall Street Journal article in Freakonomics today. Interesting article on how some recruitment firms and corporate entities are starting to use Second Life for their employment fairs and preliminary interviews.

Recently one of my DVoices buddies-Michael Potter queried me on some SL metrics issues due to my expertise(his words not mine). His firm is involved in advertising to college students and they are looking at SL possibilities for their clients. I am not surprised really, because in numerous conversations I’ve had on this subject recently my opinion is that SL is very suitable for B2B activities, particularly virtual meetings. Marketing and advertising to people in SL are entirely different and that whole model has yet to be built due to SL’s point-to-point geography and the online time usage habits and expectations of SL members.

Interesting point made in the Journal article, “For employers, Second Life provides certain advantages. For one thing, it’s cheaper than holding an actual job fair, where companies have to pay travel costs for recruiters. Hewlett-Packard, for example, says the cost of participating in the job fair — which includes buying “land” in Second Life — was less than the price of paying a third-party recruiter to hire one experienced candidate.”

So can we expect SL land sales to go up while “headhunter’s” billings go down?

Can it be?

Am I really the last person to jump on the Seth Godin bandwagon? In fact, I just subscribed to his blog today after being a recent convert via some TED video. This Drivers post here really does it for me. Seth is a brilliant codifier, not unlike Adam Firstman(you know Eve’s husband) in that he is extremely astute at observing a pattern and naming it appropriately. Many of our problems in the business world and life are due to the wrong drivers in the driver’s seat.

Social Business Interaction/Cast #5

I talk about my experiences with Muhal Richard Abrams founder of AACM, excellent musician connector to patriarch degree. I mention a survey I took for the Convergence of Social and Business Networking group on Facebook. Talk about mixing socializing and business and some about Taiwanese business culture. Question: Are your telephone habits changing in light of Skype and other social media tools?

Now, this show would be so cool with your contribution.

What does being a connector mean to you? Who are some connectors that have influenced you? How do you connect best with others?
Please call in to +1 206-309-0542 or send audio file to bbluesman at gmail dot com. Target time is 3 minutes.

Blog tagged?

Hmm, I was Skype chatting with Rich Palmer and he mentioned he was updating his blog. Nice guy that I am, I offered to look it over for him-low and behold I was tagged there.

So the topic is, “5 Things About the Real Me”

1) Despite living in Taiwan and eating some of the best Chinese food in the world on a regular basis, I miss the cheapo fried rice and lobster sauce we used to get on lunch break from Andres Hudde JHS240 in Brooklyn, NY. It was tasty and iconic of a magical time in my life I guess.

2) I tried out for and made the above mentioned school basketball team wearing desert boots. Unfortunately, my poor attitude and rebellious teenager punk ethic affected my attendance at practice. I showed up after missing 2 practices and asked coach about uniform. He looked at me and laughed. Oh well, mark that as opportunities lost!

3) When I was 16 I worked as a volunteer for some special kids program in Astoria (close to the Steinway piano factory). This was after having worked one summer as a camp counselor for special kids. It was a great experience but it helped me realize that my thoughts on entering special education were probably misguided. My hat very much off to the wonderful people that show so much love for these cool but challenged people.

4) Was on the Manhattan Beach hanging out, home from U of A on summer break when we heard the news that “Elvis is Dead!” during the “Summer of Sam” and around time of major blackout. Met a cute girl from Bay Ridge, but that’s all ancient history.

5) I walked round trip from central Brooklyn to mid-town Manhattan for the premier of Star Wars. It was a a matinee and filled with screaming kids so totally the movie experience. Magical day from every perspective. Walking through half of Brooklyn and Manhattan, the sights from the Brooklyn Bridge, George Lucas’ cinematic magic. Days like that make life worth living!

Well I guess here is where I extend it to 8 to keep up with the Joneses and the “Palmers.”

6) I called sports broadcaster Frank Gifford when I was in 3rd grade for some comments on an essay I was writing. 5 minutes into the conversation he stopped and asked me how old I was.

7) I went on a “teen tour” a traveling summer camp that brought us through 30 some odd states. I was 13 at the time and was totally blown away buy the diverse beauty within the continental US, particularly in the western US.

When I was 16 I regularly went to uptown NYC jazz club Storyville to listen to regular jam session of top jazz musicians in town on those Saturday nights. I had enough money to get there on subway (free round trip on weekends then) and buy the one drink minimum. I became a regular and wait staff knew I was young but cool(not bragging about being hip, but meaning I wasn’t a trouble maker), so they didn’t hassle me or push drinks on me.

So now my turn to pay it forward. I tag Evo Terra, Bryce Moore, Aron Michalski, Brad Pendegraph and JC Hutchins.

Inspiring words…

“It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated…it is finished when it surrenders.” - Ben Stein

Eric Rice had this post and it is very powerful-we all need to remember these for when those dark hours visit us.

Google connection

In doing a little Google vanity search on this blog I came up with an interesting post by Marc Orchard here in response to a Chris Brogan post on being “a connector” -the type of person who brings people together for the sheer joy of seeing what happens when people in your network who don’t yet know each other get together (atoms or bits) through your introductions, here. Marc also points to a book called, “Love is the Killer App” here.

Hey that works for me, how about you?

2-Way Connecting/Cast#4

Finally nipped FTP issues in the bud, and have uploaded this episode. I feel it is the best yet in terms of mix, great new bumpers from Rich Palmer and “Connector” contribution from one of the hardest working connectors in new media: CC Chapman. Thanks for all the feedback. Now CC has created some link labor for me so here we go: Eric Rice, Chris Brogan, Christopher Penn, Steve Garfield. Ahh , you’re right they are all from Boston…, borrowed *grin* from CC.

Now back to being serious-CC’s piece was excellent. One of the reasons I love this guy is his continuous seeking to be in touch with himself, which I know enables him to be a good connector for others. My topic touches on that as well and as serendipity would have it , pure coincidence. Oh wait I forgot-one more link from Bos…, no York, PA: John Swords

Now, this show would be so cool with your contribution.

What does being a connector mean to you? Who are some connectors that have influenced you? How do you connect best with others?
Please call in to +1 206-309-0542 or send audio file to bbluesman at gmail dot com. Target time is 3 minutes.