Just did a little early morning browsing through twitter and I came away encouraged.  It’s like wandering through a timeless party with little conversations all around. It’s wonderful to see small, appropriate signs of affection here and there.

Being the geek that I am, I’m sitting here thinking about the network I’ve been wandering. Instead of Kevin Bacon, you could say I’ve been exploring the 6 degrees of Michael Hyatt – a primary take-off point for me.

I’m fascinated that as I branch out further along the tree, the same qualities which make the tweets fun and playful continue to be repeated. I have an idea about why that would be so.  Part of it may be careful selection of who to follow, but I also think in part it may be an effort to put our best face forward. 

I’ve been thinking about how our cultural changes have been undermining our trust in practically everything.  The internet has made it possible to do background checks on everyone and every company. Who hasn’t googled someone to see where they’re coming from?  The whole social networking meme seems to be a reaction to this degree of distrust.  The Cluetrain Manifesto authors pointed at the conversation, but the implications are still unfolding in ways the authors didn’t foresee. Markets aren’t only about tangible economic products, they include knowledge as well.

Last night my son and I were talking about how socially networked students are wiping out classes for certain professors – no one is signing up.   I said “that’s democracy in action – total anarchy”.  He didn’t understand what I meant.   So I explained, when students discover that they collectively control the classes (as a mass market) then professors get dumped. There may be very good reasons why the professor is on the faculty, which requires maturity to understand, but the students, as a mass market reject the wisdom of the elders, and effectively the manner in which such decisions are made. 

Don’t get me wrong – no one wants horrible professors teaching subjects that aren’t relevant, but social networks have a power that can be harnessed for good or evil.

Thankfully, I’m seeing good.

Reflections creative, twitter

Okay – so I succumbed and joined twitter last evening – it’s easy to see N-connections across the web, and for twitter following it’s completely unclear why they’re connected, other than someone traversing a pool (node) of followers and deciding to follow someone at random.

It’s way early – (3:00 AM) and I woke up wondering how you connect 6 billion people on all levels.

It must’ve been something I drank – take a look.

BTW – I got there, by way of Michael Hyatt to Sara Horn and then her web developer – PulsePoint Design – Kelli Standish.

How did I know Michael Hyatt? He’s the head of Thomas Nelson publishers who published Dawn Eden’s book – Thrill of the Chaste.  I had been following Michael’s blog sporadically and remembered he had mentioned something about twitter.

Where I started I had no idea I would end up coming across stuff like this!

Geek icon spotting – came across Joi Ito and Susan Kare.

I’ve got to get some sleep.

Inspiration creative, twitter