I’ve been haunted since I read those words a few weeks ago.

Jenn Whinnem had hosted a discussion on {grow} about our digital footprint and the implications when we die. Johnny Russo, added a link to a post by Derek K. Miller, who wrote his farewell to his blog community and family in anticipation of his death from a terminal disease.  It is a stunning, poignant, post and it ends perfectly.  “I loved you, I loved you, I loved you.”

Since that day, Derek’s post has been pounding in my head.  When I die, should I just die, or do I publish a coda? What happens with this community? Is there such a thing as a digital legacy and is that something you can prepare for?

In 2007 I suffered an extremely serious spinal cord injury and could have died.  The doctors were surprised I could walk afterward and suspected the injury might even affect my cognitive abilities.  For months, my brain was on random play, sending unpredictable signals to my arms, legs and neck.  I never knew what sensation or pain I would be feeling next.  My nervous system was out of control and nobody could know when, or if, this would end.

I was lucky. Other than a plate in my head, the lasting effects of this trauma are minimal.

So I’m acutely aware of how fast you can lose it all. Death had a hand on me and I escaped that time.  But it is going to happen, perhaps without warning. Perhaps tomorrow.

How should I use this blog and my other “digital assets” to say goodbye to you, my friends and my family on MY terms?  What happens to {grow} and this digital footprint when I die?  Will any of you even know what happened? Does any person know how to get into my account to publish something to say, “Well, he’s gone. You can move along now.”

This is uncomfortable, but I have begun writing my farewell blog post.  A little at a time. Might take years. But I’m doing it. I am also leaving a set of instructions to my kids so they can find the “publish” button. It’s a start.

I think this makes sense … as much as an emotional issue like this can make sense.  I think it would bring closure for all of us, although from my position, it won’t really be on my mind unless I turn into a blogger spirit who can’t rest until somebody publishes the last post! The WordPress Ghost.

How things have changed.  My grandmother died exactly 10 years ago.  She was a lively, interesting woman but her stories live on only in my mind.  As far as I know, not a single video, photo, or voice recording of Grandma exists in the digital world.  In fact, if you google her name, the search returns images of Halle Berry.  This would have amused her.

All my grandmother left was a box of photo albums and her collection of Hummel figurines.  But we’re busy producing fresh masses of permanent, searchable content.  Buckets of it.  Articles. Photos.  Videos. We are the first generation who can potentially live forever through our personal published works. We can have a cyber-soul.

What is that digital life story going to look like for you?

When I started looking into this subject, I found that curating your content legacy and preparing for digital afterlife is becoming a big business. Think about it.  As the Digital Natives grow older, of course they are going to want their cyber selves to live on.  The ultimate narcissistic final act.

I found hundreds of resources out there to help you manage the digital end game, but here are just a few to give you a flavor of this emerging industry:

Several services will contact loved ones (or hated ones) with emails when you die.  They all basically work the same way. You queue up your emails and then the service sends you periodic emails to confirm you’re still alive. If you stop responding, your emails get unlocked and are distributed. This way, you can communicate your passwords, last wishes, and long-held secrets after you’re gone. One site will send your emails on dates you choose for 60 years into the future. An example of a free service is Dead Man’s Switch.

Another cottage industry is the curation of digital assets for future generations.  There is a wide variety of options, both free and paid. A site such as My Wonderful Life allows you to put together an online scrap book of everything that was important to you. This company has a great slogan: “You only get one chance to make a last impression.”

While the world of physical assets is fairly clear-cut thanks to wills and legal procedures, digital asset management is confusing. What will happen to your domains? Where’s that Adsense money going? What about your PayPal account? What about the half-finished novel backed up in Dropbox? Entrustet is an example of a company who will manage your assets as your “digital executor” when you pass away.

In the creepy category is Lifenaut.com which promotes ”a database of personal reflections captured in video, image, audio and documents about yourself that can be saved, searched, downloaded and shared with friends.” This information is meant to be filtered through an “interactive avatar,” modeled on you, “that becomes more intelligent as you add more information.”

VirtualEternity also claims to convert the personal data you provide into an avatar — sort of like one of those chatbots that some online companies use for automated but more humanish customer service. “We want to give users the gift of immortality” they say. Basically this is an avatar that you teach to be you.

If you want to keep up with emerging trends in this field, you might want to check out The Digital Beyond, a comprehensive website on the subject examining practical, legal, and emotional issues of a digital legacy.

As I reviewed what I had written, I notice that this started out as a personal post about my mortality and digital legacy and it has devolved into a “how-to” post.  Probably some deep meaning there. I’ll let you junior psychologists figure it out.

Any way, Mr. Derek K. Miller has inspired me to get serious about this and I’m considering my digital afterlife and how I want my blog to end some day.

Of course you already know the last line.  “I loved you, I loved you, I loved you.”

Why mess with perfection?

Mark Schaefer

Originally posted on {Grow}

The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project decided to examine these questions in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement.

Among the many interesting findings, Pew reports that the social relationship “boost” received by Facebook users is equivalent to about half the total support that the average American receives as a result of being married.

I always enjoy reading these reports because Pew is one of the few reliably valid sources of research out there!  The findings presented here paint a rich and complex picture of the role that digital technology plays in people’s social worlds. Here is a summary:

The number using social networking sites has doubled since 2008 and has gotten older.

In this Pew Internet sample, 79% of American adults said they used the internet and nearly half of adults (47%), or 59% of internet users, say they use at least one site. This is close to double the 26% of adults (34% of Internet users) who used a social site in 2008. Among other things, this means the average age of social media users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010.  Over half of all adult social site users are now over the age of 35.

Facebook dominates the social space in this survey: 92% of social media users are on Facebook; 29% use MySpace, 18% used LinkedIn and 13% use Twitter.

By percentage, Twitter has experienced the most growth.  Nearly 60% of Twitter users, 39% of Facebook users, and 36% of LinkedIn users joined within the past year

There is considerable variance in the way people use various social networking sites.

52% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platform daily, while only 7% of MySpace and 6% of LinkedIn users do the same.

On Facebook on an average day:

• 15% of Facebook users update their own status.
• 22% comment on another’s post or status.
• 20% comment on another user’s photos.
• 26% “Like” another user’s content.

Twitter is for girls, LinkedIn is for boys?

Facebook users are more trusting than others.

Pew asked people if they felt “that most people can be trusted.” They found that the typical Internet user is more than twice as likely as others to feel that people can be trusted. Further, they found that Facebook users are even more likely to be trusting. They found that a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day is 43% more likely than other Internet users and more than three times as likely as non-internet users to feel that most people can be trusted.

Facebook users have more close relationships.

The average American has just over two close Facebook confidants (2.16) – that is, people with whom they discuss important matters. This is a modest, but significantly larger number than the average of 1.93 core ties reported in 2008. They found that someone who uses Facebook several times per day averages 9% more close, core ties in their overall social network compared with other Internet users.

Follow the money

Facebook users get more social support than other people.

Pew looked at how much total support, emotional support, companionship, and instrumental aid adults receive. On a scale of 100, the average American scored 75/100 on a scale of total support, 75/100 on emotional support (such as receiving advice), 76/100 in companionship (such as having people to spend time with), and 75/100 in instrumental aid (such as having someone to help if they are sick in bed).

Internet users in general score 3 points higher in total support, 6 points higher in companionship, and 4 points higher in instrumental support. A Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day tends to score an additional 5 points higher in total support, 5 points higher in emotional support, and 5 points higher in companionship, than internet users of similar demographic characteristics. For Facebook users, the additional boost is equivalent to about half the total support that the average American receives as a result of being married or cohabitating with a partner.

Social media users are much more politically engaged than most people.

The survey was conducted over the November 2010 elections. At that time, 10% of Americans reported that they had attended a political rally, 23% reported that they had tried to convince someone to vote for a specific candidate, and 66% reported that they had or intended to vote. Internet users in general were over twice as likely to attend a political meeting, 78% more likely to try and influence someone’s vote, and 53% more likely to have voted or intended to vote.

Compared with other Internet users, and users of other social platforms, a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day was an additional two and half times more likely to attend a political rally, 57% more likely to persuade someone on their vote, and an additional 43% more likely to have said they would vote. Participants in LinkedIn were the most politically active.

The report contains a wealth of detailed information but I hope this summary has been helpful. Any surprises?

Mark Schaefer

Most social media hype-masters will tell you “yes.”   Indeed, there is probably some business use or benefit you could discover for everyone and every organization.

But after working with hundreds of students and professionals across diverse businesses, I’ve come to realize the answer is no — it’s not for everyone.

Here’s an example. One of my customers is a brilliant management consultant. An engineer by training, he does not come by marketing instinct naturally and asked me to help.

This is a customer who would be perfect for Twitter:

• Small business-owner
• Enormous, global market potential (needs a lot of awareness)
• Small marketing budget
• Selling differentiated personal services
• No time to blog, develop extensive content, etc.
• Tech-savvy
• Is a charming, bright person with engaging personality.

And yet he WILL NOT TWEET.  I coaxed, cajoled, and threatened him. I’ve trained him patiently and even prescribed a daily Twitter regimen.  I demonstrated the power of the platform when I found him a potential new business contact on the very first day of our operation.  He didn’t follow-up and seems content with his tweet-free existence.

This may seem strange, but it isn’t uncommon.  I’ve found similar resistance from many people who can obviously benefit from this business tool. I asked my client ”why” and here is his answer:

“I’m not sure why really.  I guess the idle chatter (which is mostly what I seem to see when I log on)  just doesn’t make any sense to me.  There’s obviously some self-imposed barrier that I can’t or just don’t want to cross.  You were kind enough to introduce me to Twitter, and I appreciated that.  There’s the old expression about leading a horse to water.  Guess I’m just not that thirsty for Twitter water… at least yet.”

The Twitter Quitter

This type of reaction is not unusual. In fact I was a Twitter Quitter myself and had to really push through a few weeks of this non-intuitive communication platform before I started to understand it.

What is the difference between a Twitter-lover and hater?  Does success on Twitter lend itself to a certain personality type?  Some say it favors out-going people, yet introverts are quick to say that they love the platform as way to connect on their own terms and build quality relationships slowly. Maybe it has something to do with patience.  Perhaps it is being creeped out by the crowds or by having strangers “follow you.”

Honestly, I haven’t figured it out, but I do acknowledge the fact that some very intelligent and wonderful people just don’t like Twitter even when they can see the benefits.

What About Organizations?

Is there a business case for Twitter for every organization and company?  Like nearly every business question, the answer is, “It depends!”

Medical professionals, lawyers, financial managers, and defense contractors may have severe regulatory limitations on the information they can discuss in public.  Remember, Twitter is a form of publishing.

When it comes to business communications strategy, it really gets down to this: What are your business objectives?  What do you need to say?  Where do your customers get their information?

If your customers are not engaging in this platform you’re going to waste a big wad of time on Twitter and get frustrated.

But I want to suggest two big HOWEVER’s before you decide your business is not cut out for Twitter.

HOWEVER, you may not really know where your customers are getting their information, even if you think you do!  People are piling on to the social web in record numbers and are also spending an enormous amount of time there. In an always-connected world, the role of social media in the business and personal world is blurring.

Better check those customers again!

I have a client who resisted Twitter because she insisted that her customers had no interest in it.  I conducted some customer research for her — completely unrelated to Twitter — and discovered that “social media” was the number one marketing and business issue for the majority of her customers!  By getting in front of the curve and mastering Twitter before her customers were immersed in it, she capture a leadership position and guide them, become a valued subject matter expert, and even create new business opportunities for her company.

Now for HOWEVER number two — However, there are MANY other business benefits to Twitter beyond simply getting sales leads.  Even if your customers aren’t there in force, it is still an incredibly powerful way to learn, connect with thought leaders, and identify new business opportunities.

I have seen an incredible diversity of organizations thrive on Twitter, from pizza joints to florists, from mega-brands to my handyman (who I found on Twitter).  Colleges, hospitals, non-profits, shipping companies, government agencies, and utilities have all realized business gains from a Twitter presence.

There are just so many way to define success, create wealth, discover benefits, and even have fun with Twitter.  Clearly there can be benefits for anyone if they have the fortitude to stick with it.

How do you handle the Twitter Quitters in your organization?  Is it a matter of time or are you hitting a wall too?

Mark Schaefer

This is an excerpt from The Tao of Twitter now available from Amazon and other book sellers. Mark Schaefer is a consultant, college educator and blogger at {grow}.

What resulted was even better … a lengthy discussion and a short video interview when I got to meet him live at SXSW. Talk about the business benefits of Twitter!

How does a global icon like McDonald’s — one of the world’s most important brands — engage with millions of customers? Well here’s the answer in this video. I think you’re going to love this interview. We touch on some very significant topics about the research that went into their effort, humanizing a brand, staffing up for an initiative like this, and where it will lead.

Would love to hear your comments about this. We may even be able to get Rick to answer a few questions.

Mark Schaefer

Here’s a link to the #MMchat with @MarkWSchaefer The True Business Benefits of Twitter

And a link to all of Rick Wion’s posts here @TheSocialCMO

The Chamber of Commerce meetings. Networking “speed dating.”  Trade shows.  Business Networking International.

But when I started my own business, this seemed to be the only alternative.  My last “corporate job” was global in nature. For years I had been leading teams in China, Russia, Brazil, Australia — almost every corner of the world — and really had no significant business connections — no business leads — in my own region of the country!  So I had to get out and press the flesh.

I dutifully began the circuit of lunch and breakfast meetings, hoping beyond hope that a connection would lead to a connection and conversations would turn into customers.  It was an endless loop of meeting the same insurance salespeople, bug exterminators and realtors over and over again.

The end of networking as I know it!

Then came the moment that made me realize I HAD to find another way. I attended a local networking meeting called “TNT.” I can’t remember what it stood for, but I’m pretty sure the middle word was “Networking!”  At the beginning of the meeting, everybody stood up and said something nice about their business. At the end of each uplifting description, the whole room yelled “BOOM!”  TNT — get it?  I didn’t know it was coming and after that first BOOM somebody had to peel me off the ceiling.

This just wasn’t for me.  And it wasn’t working anyway.  Luckily, this era of my life coincided with the dawn of Twitter.  I enjoyed the fascinating people, humor, and intelligence that surrounded me once I got in the Twitter groove.  And I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had stumbled upon the greatest business networking opportunity in the history of mankind.

A new way of connecting

I was connecting with extraordinary people who would have been impossible to know just a few years earlier.  Many connections became friendships. The friendships went offline into phone calls and meetings.  The synergies seemed to multiply day by day and soon I was collaborating on projects, hiring Twitter connections for freelance work, and helping others find employment.

As the enormous benefits of Twitter networking accumulated, I stopped the time-consuming and expensive local meetings completely. Today, I have a thriving international business built almost entirely through social networking. My three largest customers and five most important collaborators all came to me via Twitter.

For about a year and half I have been teaching a social media marketing class at universities including the Rutgers University Center for Management Development.  I’ve been able to show others how Twitter can change their lives too — and it has worked!  The success stories have been nothing short of inspirational.

One of my biggest frustrations is being unable to help people who can’t take my live classes.  I simply can’t explain Twitter success strategies and tactics in a phone call, a 30-minute webinar or a blog post.  I had to do something more. So I wrote a book.

A path forward

If you’re struggling with Twitter or simply want to take your game up a notch, I know that my new book, The Tao of Twitter, will help.  Why?  Because every Twitter success story, case study, and business benefit has a common formula. Every time. No exceptions.

This book solves four problems:

1. It takes the mystery out of Twitter for anybody facing the same struggle.
2. It provides a proven path to create meaningful, measurable business and personal benefits.
3. It’s inexpensive, so anybody can access this helpful information.
4. It will help you quickly get up to speed and avoid months of frustration.  The whole book takes maybe 90 minutes to read.

I hope you’ll check out The Tao of Twitter, via hardcopy or electronic version, and let me know how it helps!

Mark Schaefer is a consultant and faculty member of the Rutgers University Center for Management Development and his blog {grow} is one of the Advertising Age Top 100 marketing blogs of the world.

Mark Schaefer

Social networking continues to lead the way. The platform most familiar to the 2010 Inc. 500 is Facebook with 87% of respondents claiming to be “very familiar” with it.  Another noteworthy statistic around familiarity is Twitter’s amazing “share of mind” with 71% percent (up from 62% in 2009) reporting being familiar with the relatively new micro blogging and social networking site. Forty-four percent say Facebook is the single most effective social networking platform they use.

In terms of actual usage, Facebook also leads the way:

Blogging remains an important tool for the Inc. 500. Fifty percent of the 2010 Inc. 500 has a corporate blog, up from 45% in 2009 and 39% in 2008.  Beyond the actual adoption of this tool, there is clear evidence that companies are using blogs effectively.  There is a strong propensity to engage consumers through accepting and replying to comments and providing a vehicle for subscriptions. Thirty-four percent have developed social media policies to govern blogging by their employees. Approximately 20% of the Fortune 500 has such a policy and only 22% of the Fortune 500 have an active blog.

New communications tools are changing the way successful businesses operate. Forty-three percent of the 2009 Inc. 500 reported social media was “very important” to their business/marketing strategy.  That number jumps to 56% in 2010.   In addition, 57% report using search engines and social networking sites to recruit and evaluate potential employees (also an increase from 2009).

Diverse B2B uses of Twitter, Facebook and blogging. This year, 31% reported using Facebook for B2B communications with vendors, suppliers and business partners and 27% use Twitter for that purpose.  The researchers note that this could signal an important change in the popular conception of both platforms and how they are being used.  Blogging also appears to be growing as a means of communication with vendors, suppliers and partners.  In 2009 18% used blogs for this purpose, while 22% are using them to reach an external B2B audience.

Social media adoption varies by industry. Despite the fact that 83% of the 2010 Inc. 500 use at least one of the social media tools studied, adoption is skewed by industry.  Government Services companies make up 12% of the 2010 Inc. 500, but 27% of those who do not use social media tools. Energy companies comprise 3% of the 2010 Inc. 500 but 17% of the non-users.  Financial Services companies follow the same pattern holding 5% of the Inc. 500 slots, but 10% of the companies who have not yet adopted social media.

Watch out for Foursquare. Although only 5% of the respondents use Foursquare, of those who do, 75% regard it to be successful as a marketing vehicle.  Online video and message boards are deemed the most successful of the primary social platforms:

This statistically-valid research would indicate the use of social media among fast-growing companies has taken hold and is showing some returns.  What are your thoughts on this study?

Mark Schaefer

I talk to a lot of bloggers. In fact I speak to some blogger somewhere almost every day … supporting, encouraging, listening, and helping where I can.

And I think I’ve determined the biggest hurdle that keeps people from ever beginning a blog.

It’s not a lack of ideas.

It’s not time.

It’s not writing ability.

It’s CONFIDENCE.

Fear of failure and criticism seems to be the most overwhelming reason why people don’t blog. Having some trepidation about blogging is reasonable. After all, it’s kind of like public speaking in a way, isn’t it? I think it is a pretty rare person who can put themselves out there in a public way and not have at least a little insecurity.

So what do we do about it? Here are a few ideas that seem to be working …

Re-frame the fear. “Blogging” is a word associated with publishing and being in the spotlight. Let’s use a different word — “essay.” Can you compose a 500-word essay on a topic that interests you once a month? In analog terms, 500 words is one page, double-spaced. That seems pretty easy, doesn’t it? Well, let’s start there. Set a goal to write one 500-word essay every month on a topic related to your passion or profession (or if you’re lucky, both!).

Now, let’s look at writing a second essay every month. This one is based on something that you’ve read — a book, a newspaper article, a blog post. Write this 500-word essay on why you liked the article, what you learned from it, or how it impacted you. Focusing on two essays a month … that seems achievable doesn’t it?

Focus on fun. Now, let’s address the fear factor directly. If you’re thinking about blogging, you probably have some thought that you will enjoy it, right? Well blogging IS fun. It’s an interesting challenge, a wonderful creative outlet, and an opportunity to join an amazing global community of bloggers.

So one way to get over the anxiety is to focus on the benefits to yourself, not the fear of criticism from unknown “others.” Even if nobody reads the thing, many bloggers tell me they keep doing it just because it’s so enjoyable. Focus on this opportunity to learn a fun skill that might open up some new doors.

Seek active support. When I started blogging there was a small group of people who were also just starting out and we encouraged each other along the way — Jayme Soulati, John Bottom, Steve Dodd and Gregg Morris, to name a few. They would leave a comment now and then or tweet a post out just to keep me going. I’ll never forget — one time I was beginning to wonder if anybody was reading the posts I was writing and out of the blue I got this email from Dan Levine:

I appreciate what you’re doing — slowly and surely, thoughtfully and methodically, you’re helping shape the direction of this “new” medium. In a landscape filled with yes-people and a few too many sheep, your posts are making ripples that will eventually lead to new ideas and fresh approaches. I have no doubt. So … thank you.

Let me tell you — that was a great confidence booster at a critical time for me. Blogging can be a lonely job. Remember that on average, only 2% of your readers ever leave a comment. So take the time to build your support group of fellow beginners and encourage them by becoming active on their blogs.

Handling hate — I’ve received about 7,000 comments on {grow}. I take a lot of risks in this forum and would say I have only received two or three comments that were unprofessional pot-shots. That’s 0.04%. Now I get plenty of criticism and dissent because I encourage that. But mean? No.

Expecting negativity is an unfounded fear. Bloggers, and those who read blogs, are generally an extremely nice and supportive bunch of folks. They may push you, they may disagree with you, but that is sign that they care about what you say. It’s recognition that you’ve had an impact and you’re making people think. That can be a point of pride, not a source of fear.

Fear of failure — If you define success as attracting a thousand readers, or achieving professional recognition, or even becoming rich from your blog, well, you might fail. But there are lots of other personal and business benefits of blogging even if you have a small audience or you never get rich. And you’ll never achieve any of them if you don’t try. What’s the worst that can happen if you “fail?” Probably not much.

You are unique and amazing in your own way. There are people who would benefit from hearing your stories and learning from your experiences. Dive in. The water’s fine!

Join the conversation. What fears did you have when you started and how did you overcome them? What advice would you provide beginners?

Mark Schaefer

Mark is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions and CMO of Freesource Inc. You can find him on Twitter at @markwschaefer and on his blog {grow} at www.businessesGROW.com

I am fascinated with uber-blogger Chris Brogan as a cultural icon of the social media revolution. Whether it’s trying new business models or pioneering sponsored posts, he is our canary in the coal mine, exploring the leading edges of our field.

But a post this week established a new milestone even for Chris. For your edification and entertainment, I am re-printing the entire post. Under a hand-drawn picture of a stick figure at a podium, he wrote:

“Okay, don’t do this. If you’re going to speak to people, speak TO (or even better WITH) them. Don’t look at your slides, read your slides, and tell me what’s on your slides. I know how to read. Stop it. Okay?”

… That’s it — 41 words.

What is remarkable about this? Nothing until you see this:

For you math majors out there, that is 6.7 tweets per word. Further, Chris received nearly 50 comments, so there were nine more comments than total words in the post. Ladies and gentlemen, that has to be a new world record.

The comments were uniformly positive and even included words like ”brilliant!!!!” and “awesome.”

I’m going to go WAY out on a limb here. This is not a brilliant post. In fact, this is pretty standard presentation advice that has been delivered since the days of flip charts and transparencies. If somebody told you this in a company training program you might roll your eyes and yawn. I’ll even hypothesize that Chris would admit this does not teeter into his category of “brilliant” posts.

So why the big buzz over 41 not-awesome words? Taken only at face value, this might indicate the social web is not a meritocracy. But in this world, what really is? So there is something else going on here. If we examine this post as a case study, what are the lessons we can learn as mere human bloggers?

Be the brand

Chris is more than a blogger, he is a brand … a big brand in social media terms. This is an important lesson for two reasons.

1) Yes, you have a brand too. Everything you say — and don’t say — on the social web contributes to your cumulative image, your brand promise. Chris has very carefully curated a powerful image of authentic helpfulness that has endeared him to many loyal fans no matter what he writes.

2) On the blogosphere, people are bigger than the brands they have created. If the CEO of Coke left, Coke would survive. But if Chris turned his blog over to somebody else, the brand would shrivel up. Here’s the unique opportunity: As a blogger, you ARE the brand.

Blogger as celebrity

Chris gets beaten up a lot by critics but among his loyal fans he has earned a cloak of invincibility associated with celebrity. In this rarefied status, even the mundane becomes special and true fans are fascinated by his every word. If Chris wrote a post titled “I’m feeling a little gassy today” it would also be tweeted 300 times. (Chris — Please do this. I will PAY you to do this).

The lesson for us? Unless you are a celebrity, and I’m pretty sure you’re not, you do not have a cloak of invincibility. Your content does matter and it better be compelling and entertaining to earn your reader engagement. Reader loyalty is not an entitlement, it’s a hard-earned honor.

Showing up, not showing off

One of the most important lessons you can learn from Chris’s success is that the guy is committed. Blogging is not an after-thought. It is not something delegated to guest bloggers. You show up and you work it — in his case, for years. He did not get to be our social media teddy bear by blogging once a month. Chris averages 7.5 posts a freaking week.

Chris shows up in other ways, too. Look down Ad Age list of top marketing blogs and he is one of the few who engages in a meaningful way across the social channels. Despite his enormous following, he still pays attention and is humble enough to learn from his tribe.

Simple can be good enough

This post demonstrates that an effective blog post does not have to be a PhD thesis. It doesn’t have to be edited to death. Write about what’s happening now, what’s in your heart and mind in the moment. Just do it.

I don’t think Chris intentionally writes for a target demographic. He writes for himself and obviously has some fun doing it. He loves to blog and it shows. By writing about what is interesting to him, he didn’t find his audience, his audience found him.

He can be a polarizing figure and I have been a Chris Brogan critic too, but I think we also have to give the guy credit. He has found his formula, he has stuck to it with tenacity and passion and he can now claim success in 50 words or less.

What lessons do you draw from this strange little blog post?

Mark Schaefer

P.S. This post was 804 words long. If I don’t get 804 comments, there is going to be trouble around here.

Mark is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions and CMO of Freesource Inc. You can find him on Twitter at @markwschaefer and on his blog {grow} at www.businessesGROW.com

Many are pointing to the role of social media channels in spreading this movement. Did social media create the Tea Party Movement, and if so, does this prove that the social web can enable dramatic social change?

Just two years after a sweeping Democratic victory, the tea-party movement re-drew the landscape again. Nurtured by online networking, it helped disparate activists across the nation link up and already push aside high-profile incumbent leaders in multiple states this year.

A thorough history of the Tea Party Movement in The Wall Street Journal is peppered with references to the use of social media in building a national movement. Let’s start with a brief summary of how social media played a role in these sweeping changes:

Blogs

The genesis of the Tea Party Movement may have been a blog by Stacy Mott, a stay-at-home mother fed up with the government’s economic policies. Enraged by the government bail-outs, she started a blog for conservative women called “Smart Girl Politics” and launched a social networking site at the same time. This and other conservative blogs were catalysts for live rallies. The content caught the attention of influential blogger and political commentator Michelle Malkin who started to write about the rallies. After a dramatic online television rant calling for a modern-day Tea Party movement by CNBC Commentator Rick Santelli, the Smart Girl blog went viral. Hundreds of other blogs popped up, creating a grassroots cry for change.

Social networking

Facebook pages started springing up locally and then nationally, uniting disparate activities. The movement initially had no budget, so Facebook served as the central directory for the party’s activities. Within a year there 2,000 Tea Party-related Facebook pages. Eventually one of the founders created a website and social networking site called The Tea Party Patriots.

Twitter

Many believe the first seeds of the movement were planted on a list of top conservatives on Twitter, dubbed #tcot” for short. This list spawned other lists and within weeks #tcot grew from 25 names to 1,500. Twitter was used to unite disparate voices and organize conference calls, town hall meetings and rallies.

Wikis

As the movement grew, organizers established wikis to provide protest advice and organizing techniques.

Fueled by these social platforms, general disenchantment coalesced into a cause, and in just a few months the movement enjoyed a stunning victory when Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts won Senator Ted Kennedy’s long-time Democratic Senate seat.

The social media revolution?

Undoubtedly social networking unified an idea among disparate interest groups with no organization and no budget. Does this amazing success discredit the much-discussed Malcom Gladwell article claiming that the weak links and lack of hierarchy could not promote such dramatic social change?

Yes and no. If you look carefully at the brief history of the Tea Party Movement, it may actually SUPPORT Gladwell’s contention.

The WSJ article shows the initial loose organizations created on social networks were eventually dismantled by in-fighting, controversy and hurt feelings. Once the euphoria of the initial change began to wear off, the social networks could not sustain the change and even the early pioneers united by blogs and Facebook became bitter and divided. Relationships among the loosely-based coalition deteriorated so quickly members began suing each other.

The real catalyst came from coverage by the traditional media. News programs on the Fox Network and articles in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal fueled interest in rallies. Live conference calls to organize the initiative seemed to be the linchpin between chaos and unity. Town Hall meetings and live rallies kept the momentum alive. Embarrassing content, like a racist photo-shopped images of the president, quickly went viral on the social web and actually created more divisiveness among the members.

The other important point that Gladwell was addressing was that revolutionary change requires risk to personal safety. Voting for the Tea Party Movement in the privacy of a voting booth carries the same risk as clicking a “like” button on Facebook so this is not exactly a test case for his theory.

In any event, there is no doubt that the Tea Party Movement could not have coalesced with this speed and forcefulness without social media. What are your thoughts on this Social Media Political Revolution?

Mark Schaefer

Spiritual touchpoints

I was feeling kind of bitchy this week and wrote a bitchy blog post to go right along with my mood. It was supposed to run today. Then I read Danny Brown’s post on leadership which reminded me that sometimes we need to think bigger about ourselves and the world. I decided the universe didn’t need another bitchy blog post and that I could do better. So I trashed it.

I experience these tiny tugs of hope, optimism and encouragement every day. Little social strings between me and others, pushing, pulling, inspiring me to do better, to think bigger about my social media community and the world. I am evolving in positive ways because of it.

Have you surrounded yourself with these spiritual touchpoints too?

The communion of community

Recently a woman in my city lost her 18-year-old son in a tragic and violent drug-related death. Her pain was exacerbated by questions about how police handled the case, which played out in a public forum.

I really don’t know this woman, but I have children too and the agony that came out on her blog posts touched me and probably thousands of others like me. We were a community of strangers united in grief. We connected through Twitter, through comments, through prayer for her family.

I’ve seen this same kind of communion of strangers after the Haiti earthquake and the Nashville flood. People used technology for a higher purpose, to commune with the needy, displaced and heart-broken. This gives me so much hope.

Igniting Passion

I’ve just read the “Brains on Fire” book (recommended – no affiliation other than profound admiration!). The agency by the same name preaches that the social web is an opportunity to create not just “conversation,” but movements. Watch this short video they created for Love 146. I dare you not be outraged, shocked and moved.

Love 146 works toward the abolition of child sex trafficking and exploitation. Brains on Fire created a movement by igniting passion through stories, images, even music and art. This is work that is measurably changing the lives of forgotten children. This is the social web — and the human spirit — at its best.

Love one another

There are people I have met on the social web who love and care about me.

That is probably the sappiest thing I have ever written but it is undeniable and true so why not say it? The Internet now allows you to find your folks wherever they may be, to establish your personal movement.

Does this sound weird to you? I think it can happen for anybody if you give it a chance. The social web is spreading love from country to country and server to server, to laptops, smart phones, iPads and people. It’s amazing to think about.

More love in more places around the world has gotta be a good thing, right?

A global heartbeat

I am in daily contact with people who inspire me from Sweden, Malaysia, Jordan, France, Australia, Russia and many other nations. Perhaps you are too.

Pause for a moment and realize that you and I are experiencing a milestone in human history. A profound and spiritual milestone, I think. For the first time we have access to free, real-time, global communications. The ability to make these connections were not available to us just a few years ago.

And this is just the beginning. Sure, Facebook is the home to Farmville and about every other inane concept known to man. But don’t dwell there. This platform alone is providing an opportunity to unite hundreds of millions of people. Hundreds … of millions … of people. Doesn’t that take your breath away?

Twitter enabled a revolutionary movement in Iran. It failed … this time. The power of technology to connect, nurture, and teach will eventually out-run the technology that is trying to control and contain it. We WILL be connected and then there will be one global heartbeat pulsing through the social web.

Look through the silliness, cut through the drivel, ignore the hate. There is a core light of hope streaming above it all with the potential to unite us, heal us, and inspire us no matter who or where we are.

Mark Schaefer

Mark is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions and CMO of Freesource Inc. You can find him on Twitter at @markwschaefer and on his blog {grow} at www.businessesGROW.com