Such interesting advice from a child …

Brilliant idea, Crazy Eddie!

But maybe so-called social networks can be anti-social as well.  Have you seen any anti-social behavior on Facebook or Twitter?

Several years ago, before Facebook and LinkedIn became household names, a partner and I formed a company named “Network Handshake LLC” and proceeded to develop a bit of social networking software called “ConnectArizona.com,” in an attempt to bring together like-minded individuals in the Arizona business community.  It was a really interesting project, but without adequate capital and marketing support, ConnectArizona.com and Network Handshake really never got off the ground (although I still own the domain names).

Time has shown that the concept of “shaking hands across the network” really has legs.  How many connections do you have on LinkedIn?  How many friends on Facebook?  What other social networks do you use?

However, this week, the power of the “real handshake,” not just the network kind, was reaffirmed.  After not attending an industry conference in well over a year, I am attending the Gartner IAM Summit in San Diego this week.  It has been delightful to engage with customers, partners and friends on a “real handshake” basis – to look individuals in the eye, firmly grasp their hands and speak directly, person to person.  While much can be said for the connecting power of teleconferences, webex sessions, email and social networks,  I believe there is no real substitute to direct, face-to-face, interpersonal communications. 

Viva la “real” handshake!

Note: This little post chronicles my favorite social media exchange in a long time.  You need to see the embedded images to get the gist of an intriguing conversation.

The intrigue began Wednesday afternoon when I was waiting in the Chicago O’Hare airport for a flight to Central Wisconsin Airport, near Wausau, WI.  I tweeted my intentions:

Within a few minutes, I was being followed on Twitter by Wausau Loner:

I had never heard of the Zombie Apocalypse, so I started poking around the web.  I thought, “Do Zombies need Identity Management?”

I found that my tweet was listed on the Wausau Wisconsin Best Blogs and Tweets …

… along with my new follower, the Zombie Apocalypse expert, Wausau Loner.

This morning (Thursday), I received a nice thank you note from Wausau Loner:

I pinged him back and got this reply:

I posed the big question:  Do zombies have unique Identities?  Do they need Identity Management?

Sadly, the answer was negative:

Well, there are still many unanswered questions.  May be next time I visit Wausau, I’ll get together with Wausau Loner and get more details!   I’ll let you know.

I have begun to experiment with methods for integrating this Discovering Identity blog with Facebook and Twitter, using the Wibiya toolbar, which appears at the bottom of the screen.  This is a WordPress plugin, which was easy to configure and install.

Feel free to use the toolbar to become a fan of our Facebook page and join our Facebook community.  You can also use the toolbar to join my Twitter conversation.

Please let me know what you think.

Note: for those who see this on the blogs.sun.com version of the blog, please visit us at DiscoveringIdentity.com to see the Wibiya toolbar.

If all goes according to plan, the “Bird Feeder” WordPress plugin will automatically generate a Tweet after I post this little message.

As I shopped for paint this week while wearing my favorite Despair.com social networking t-shirt, the Home Depot clerk remarked that stuff you post on Facebook would remain there even if you died. “I guess it’s a way for you to still live on after death!” he chuckled.

I hadn’t thought of that before. Another reason we need to be careful what we post!

As I slept last night, my Twitter follower count edged above 1,000. In light of the fact that President Obama has 2,278,978  followers and even John McCain has 1,446,896, all this proves is that I am firmly entrenched way out on the long tail of the Twitter economy.

A provocative line in a song I have known since childhood declares, “Time flies on wings of lightning. We cannot call it back … ”

Based on an embarrassing social networking experience I had yesterday, I think we could safely paraphrase: “Words fly on wings of lightning. We cannot call them back!”

It all started when I noticed a comment from a prolific tweeter from London:

if you are retweeting something from google in order to get a wave invite then you are a <deleted>. and so are they. that is all.

Since I had just done that abominable thing, I quickly looked up <deleted> in the dictionary and posted this tweet:

Just learned a new word:  <deleted> = contemptible person; jerk.  Based on Twitter commentary, I must be one. 🙂

When that tweet reached Facebook, it triggered a small avalanche of comments.  It was great to see a friend speak up and say:

you are definitely not a <deleted>.

It was also nice to hear from a young man who used to live next door, but whom I haven’t seen in many years:

…my brother calls me a <deleted> all the time. I’m glad to get a definition on that…..sort of.

But I started to wonder what I had done when an acquaintance suggested:

Tip: Don’t have this conversation with anybody from the UK…. 🙂 … It has a very specific meaning across the Atlantic, one that is best left unexplained on a public forum 🙂

What had I done?  I quickly dug a bit deeper into the meaning of <deleted>, only to find he was exactly right.  I shouldn’t be using such language in a global forum.

Well, words had flown on wings of lightning.  I even tried to call them back via Twitter:

Actually, when I looked into it, it is definitely British slang that is not used in polite company.  Oops!

And later:

Lesson learned today: Be very, very wary of repeating slang used by a tweeter from another country.  Could be very embarrassing.

It was heartening to hear from some friends who obviously had a chuckle, but questioned my motives at first:

Whew! I frankly was a bit surprised to see the Mark Dixon I know using that term. We all learn something new every day!

Yeah Mark, I was gonna jump in and say something, but then I realized i have no business correcting anyone’s language.

LOL, I was wondering when you’d figure that word out. 😉

Well, I have been painfully reminded again that we must be very careful about what we sling out into cyberspace.  Words do indeed fly on wings of lightning!

Finally, in the 75th year of the Blondie comic strip, Dagwood is introduced to Twitter!  How’s that for staying current with the times?

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