chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in People in the Real World

Re: People in the Real World

Nurse Staff — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:33:09 -0000

Thanks Chris, for bringing a little humility back into our passion. Gentle giants can do that -- they can be huge without stepping on folks. In fact they can use their hugeness to help the people that need the lift the most.

Re: People in the Real World

Paolo — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:21:45 -0000

Outstanding artlicle. Thanks man!

Re: People in the Real World

Alex Beattie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:06:17 -0000

This is so difficult to do... It is so difficult to get people to understand the idea of connectivity... I think it is because of the money... If there were more 'clearcut' money ventures than people would be ALL over it... not just us... the 'weirdos'

Good words... for sure

Re: People in the Real World

Sally Falkow PRoActive — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:51:06 -0000

We are indeed big fish in little ponds. And I agree that we need to be educators. My particular small pond is the public relations industry. The Sapient study of CMOs on what they want from an agency made it very clear that agency owners have to get up to speed on digital marketing and new media.

Re: People in the Real World

design — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:26:07 -0000

A timely reminder that if you re big in social media, you re probably not that big a fish in the real world...

Re: People in the Real World

Natasha Baker — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:00:50 -0000

As always, I thoroughly enjoyed your post. I referenced it on my blog in an effort to spread the word.

Natasha

Re: People in the Real World

Kimmie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:13:21 -0000

I think we should all be educators. My boyfriend (who has now started reading your site) knew nothing of Social Media but since we are starting a joint venture I told him he had to learn. When I talk to my mom, she is someone who "wants it but just didn't know it". She always talks about how she has been pulled to the techie age and I am so proud to see that since she works with commercial properties in high finance that she has integrated various apps that assist her business. She loves when I come over and share something I did and she's always writing it down to check it out. She says that ultimately she could care less about Twittering but she wants to know that it exists and what it does. She laughs when she listens to CNN or FoxNews and the anchors say "wow those people on the Internet are blogging about this or doing this thing called Twitter". She loves that she tends to know about things months in advance because I made her aware.

I agree that my world is virtual and so the gains I have made online, I am fortunate to parlay that into the physical world; however, it's always good to remember that we operate in a completely different system that most people don't know anything about.

Re: People in the Real World

Holly — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:32:55 -0000

Regular reading de-lurking because your post struck a real chord. The idea of paying it forward, of putting petty jealousies aside and helping someone out is SO IMPORTANT. I hang only out (in the blogosphere and in real life) with people who can celebrate the success of others. It's a much better space to be in--and social networking is all about this.

http://www.wondersandmarvel...

Re: People in the Real World

Caleb — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:53:45 -0000

You took the words right out of my mouth. I often think about a lot of the things you mentioned, only in my case the problem of not fitting in is exponentially bigger: I'm from rural Kansas ;) I do try to teach people about social media and the intricacies of the internet though, my wife is kind of a bystander of it all, so she is learning just by watching and listening...

Re: People in the Real World

rob harris — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:58:39 -0000

Great post Chris. I was having the same conversation with myself while building what I'm thinking is a advanced social media project which I'm trying to tackle the over saturated NASCAR Marketing landscape. Instead of trying to explain the technolgoy I think of what we are doing is building a bridge to it...kind of like using baseball stats to teach kids math...or something like that. Gas on!

Re: People in the Real World

greg cryns — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:32:35 -0000

This morning my 46 year old engineer-executive brother called me to chat. I love it when he calls. We always laugh about stuff.

After 10 minutes I knew the call was winding down. I said to him, "BJ, you should introduce your company to social marketing." As usual I talked louder and faster. I always do that when I talk about something I love.

I told my brother that I saw a 16 year old kid on Chris Pirillo's big blog seminar a couple of weeks ago. I told how the kid said that the most remarkable invention of the 21st century so far was text messaging. I felt like I was telling my brother something really unique.

"Oh, I use text messaging," said my brother.

That put a pin in my balloon.

Re: People in the Real World

Natasha Wescoat — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:09:42 -0000

This was so sooo much needed. It was what I was thinking about for so often. I started a Geek to Real World Translation Guide just because of this post: http://natashasartcandy.com...

Because of your post, I'm working starting today on what matters most, to connect in the real world.

Re: People in the Real World

scottpenton — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:16:50 -0000

Awesome article Chris, it is so true, I find myself sometimes thinking everyone at work is in to social media, but their not, I try to explain, but end up explain to fast and not in a way they would understand. I gotta work on that. Thanks. take care

Re: People in the Real World

Eric Romer — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:00:22 -0000

Great post Chris. I can't stress how important this topic is, and I deal with it on a daily basis talking with prospects. Like you said, a truly successful person in this space are the names you listed -- those people embracing social media in verticals you wouldn't expect them to be.

It's our job as evangelists for new technology to break it down to the simplest of terms, and alleviate fears of what's new.

Re: People in the Real World

earmstrong — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:12:11 -0000

I really enjoyed this post. I might be one of the few people in my office that even know what SM is. Some are still working on opening attachments on their Blackberry. I used to think my limited knowledge of social media was a badge of honor until I realized that few people will respect your knowledge of something they don't even realize exists.

Great post!

Re: People in the Real World

Line Storgaard-Conley — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:52:50 -0000

Chris - great article. I was just thinking about this after a trip to SC, where nobody really cared about twitter, blogs, linked in, etc. Everyone was more concerned with gas prices, covering basic needs of everyday life.

And you are right when talking to people in the "real world" it is essential to teach (not preach) how social media can empower them by offering a way to reach out to the world.

I think I will forward this article to my friend Marisa, who, over lunch was screaming at me that people who do not get technology (especially flickr) needs to get with the program.

Re: People in the Real World

Adam Moffat — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:50:28 -0000

Chris: Great post.

I love your comment about Internet fame. I can see the novelty tee shirt now: "I'm big on the Internet" ;)

Re: People in the Real World

Debs — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:02:33 -0000

Chris - so timely,so true. I have been working on just this bridge for the past 5+ years [as you know] - reminding the echo chamber of the world outside and the world outside of the beauty, potential and work involved in the social web. Too many miss the motivations underlying the features/tools/communities - no, i cannot "make you a viral video", or press a button and poof you have a sense of purpose. Frankly, as current headlines demonstrate most people have bigger issues in their lives than how many people follow them on twitter. It is the motivations and what we GET out of our efforts as people that drive the current features/tools/commuinities. As - "technology changes, human's don't". Keep on keeping on man.

Re: People in the Real World

Alison Harrison — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:18:51 -0000

A perfect reminder that in all communication, it's the benefits that people really want to hear about, not the features.

Thanks for the refresher!

Re: People in the Real World

Sarah — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:14:03 -0000

Excellent article and great reminder that most of the real world doesn't quite understand all of this social media yet. It seems that the more I work behind my computer, the more easily I could fall into the trap of forgetting that most people don't understand the purpose of a blog... and it would completely lose them if I began to go into the topic of RSS. Sort of like when someone starts rambling about Star Trek... then I am confused and I don't care. People don't have an interest learning about our product if we lose them in our social media talk.

Re: People in the Real World

Brett Borders — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:07:22 -0000

Great article.

Dugg for the subheader "Internet Fame is Lame Outside Our Sphere"!

Re: People in the Real World

Erika Lehmann — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:42:45 -0000

Thankfully I'm not web famous either, but this is still a great reality check for me. I have to shake my self a little when people ask me "What's a blog?" or "what's Twitter?" because it feels like such a huge part of my life that I have trouble remembering that other people don't need it. And that's cool.

I like the idea of helping others to learn the power of social media. I'm trying to help a local non-profit learn to reach out by using it, to hopefully expand their reach. The idea that we have the power to do great things with it is exciting.

Re: People in the Real World

Sara — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:38:25 -0000

Great post, Chris, and right on. I remember being so excited that a post I wrote made the front page of Digg, I called my best friend and told her. She enthusiastically congratulated me and sincerely shared in my happiness...and then said, "So what's Digg?"

Re: People in the Real World

Beth Kanter — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:34:15 -0000

Chris:

Wow, thanks for the props.

Last week I did a workshop -- bits and pieces of a presentation that I've done frequently. I had to do it twice - the first group was great - went well. But the second group, I was way over their heads -- and needed to do a better job of switching levels on the sly. Did get some resistance, but that's part of the job - dealing with it and turning it around - acknowledging it - but making sure to pack it up in a suitcase and send it on its merry way.

At any rate, being bridge means that you acknowledge and worship the power of the newbie.
http://beth.typepad.com/bet...

Re: People in the Real World

Marsha Collier — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:53:03 -0000

You are preaching to the band. This was the topic of my Keynote at Online Market World. We are lucky enough to live in a "rarefied air" of knowledge and our job is to educate. I do, on my websites, books and radio show.

A perfect example is a comment my blog received today: "I read the link, very interesting, if difficult to follow for the technophobe like me, carry on your good work though, I think what you are doing is brilliant, even if the understanding of the issues you raise are limited."