Making an Impact One Friend at a Time

I still find Twitter fascinating and one of the most fascinating parts is that it is such an incredibly caring group of talented and creative and smart individuals. Like other social networking or even dating sites, you add or others add you to their network and there are so many various reasons as to why you'd "hook-up" with these people.

And then quickly, on Twitter, at least, you take peek at their blog. You often find out what town or region of the world they call home. You strike up conversations and begin a friendship. You connect things that are of similar interest. You learn that they are a mom or a writer or a software developer or a race car driver. Those are the fun parts of what happens.

The parts that aren't fun are the parts that remind us we're chatting with humans.

Humans who have faults and problems and the worst of it all illnesses or are literally hit by a "Mack truck."

Yes, one of our dear friends, "ashPEAmama" on Twitter was hit by actually a Peterbilt truck this week and did not survive. She had given birth to her second child in November and this week at the age of 29 less than five hours after her last post on Twitter her life came to an end. Tragic.

And many of us have now donated to a fund in hopes of helping her family financial during this imaginably difficult time.

A month or so ago another one of our friends, Susan found a lump in her breast. A big lump. It required almost immediate surgery and she has now undergone breast cancer surgery and writes about what she is living through in Boobs on Ice.

We have rallied around her and as well as "Splash Girl" who is also going through her battle with Breast Cancer and created the Frozen Pea Fund with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

The Washington Post picked up on our efforts and ran How Frozen Peas Started a Movement which gives more color to all the craziness that has ensued in our little circle of friends.

Why Social Media Matters

Within the last six months I've developed an affinity for online social media and networking. I know that it honestly drives some of my colleagues nuts. Good thing I have a slew of friends on Twitter that share in my passion and my desire to spread the works of my new love.

Mostly people want to know what they'll get from using sites like Twitter or Facebook. I think many people have come to realize that MySpace tends to be a fun place and with LinkedIn is easy to see the business connections and networking. But Twitter? Facebook? And seriously, why would anyone over the age of 15 want to join any of these or even Second Life for that matter?

And a few weeks ago everything changed. Twitter suddenly mattered. Twitter mattered to Susan Reynolds and the host of friends that follower her Twitter posts and blog and artwork. Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer.

In addition to being an avid Twitter poster and artist, Susan dabbles in other fun things like Second Life and various other social media. Susan is not 15. Susan is way past 15 and I'm sure she doesn't mind me saying so.

Susan has become our friend, our sister, our confidant, our playmate.

And Twitter rallied.

Many people who call Twitter one of their social networking sites of choice decided to make a stand against cancer by creating a site and a movement based on one of Susan's postings about frozen peas. Frozen Pea Friday began last Friday on the Frozen Pea Fund site and all money raised each Friday goes to the American Cancer Society's initiative Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

I had already had the opportunity to participate in November in the Austin Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and personally raised over $200 in donations, one donation actually came from a Twitter friend of mine. Around the same time I followed others on Twitter also participating in Race for the Cures around the U.S. So, the thought that the good people of Twitter would create such an effort for one of our own really didn't surprise me.

But what it should prove is the power of online social networking.

Any more questions?

Your World or Mine? Exploring the Metaverse

I attended my first Austin Social Media Club meeting tonight. What a cool group of people.

Tonight's session focused around Second Life and how Dell and the American Cancer Society are using it. Dell seems to be focused more on brand building, while the American Cancer Society is actually raising funds through things like virtual Relay for Life events (which is one of their most financially successful events in real life) and garage sales.

I've dabbled around in Second Life a bit and quickly realized it would need to be a weekend project for me to acclimate myself to that metaverse. Plus, I admit, it kept crashing my computer which made it incredibly frustrating.

One of the things that Laura Thomas spoke about when she was trying to sell the idea to her higher ups at Dell, was the importance of getting buy-in from management. Okay, got that. My VP of Marketing, Koen De Witte, is encouraging a couple of us to look into it.

And in looking into it we'll need to answer the simple question of WHY? And that one word has so many connotations to it like:

• WHY spend the time building a virtual universe when we should probably focus on our real universe of marketing and lead generation?
• WHY become a part of this world if we aren't even sure that this is where our customer base is located?
• WHY step out of the box, when the box we're in is so darn comfy?

All valid questions as are the others that are certain to ensue. But the reality is and Connie Reece really hit the nail on the head with this one, is that this metaverse is here and if it's not the one that lasts long term then another world will pop up. Would we as an organization rather be part of this now or miss the boat entirely. And mind you, I totally get that Bulldog would not be an early adopter at this juncture as SL has been around for several years now.

And Laura made another great point about future generations when she spoke about how her daughter is aleady functioning in a virtual world when she visits Webkinz and purchases virtual items for her Webkinz pet.

Oh, lordy, didn't I write a post earlier about feeling old?

The world, both first life and second life, is changing and evolving. The question now is do I or does my organization jump on board and learn about it or ignore it and hopes it goes away?