Starship: Earth | Destination: Survival

Happy Earth Day!




Imagine we are traveling in a large space ship that is just about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) around, holds just over 6.7 billion people, has garbage lying all over the place and a big hole in the roof.

Earth Hour

On March 28th, over a billion people in over a thousand cities shut off their lights for an hour. Imagine what has to happen in order for you to convince 15% of the world’s population to do the same thing on the same day.

Envision if we could raise that number to 25-30%? Imagine if we could convince more companies to be more environtmetally safe? What might happen if we could reduce the amount of waste we produce each year?

How Can Social Media Help?

For the sake of the argument, let's assume half a billion people have a social media profile. Using the six degrees of separation equation, that covers anyone on the planet with a computer. Now imagine you were to convince just one person in your social network to do just one thing today to help the earth and you did the same. That's a billion things. That's progress.

Here are some websites to check out for more information...

Earth Day Network | Earth Day Canada

Earth Day U.S. | Environmental Protection Agency

@knealemann

Unscientific Study in Networking Socially

I took a few days away from the social media space and the emails have been hilarious. I’m okay! Thanks for your concern. But it did get me thinking about the power of social connection.

You Started It

Last April, I attended a Geek Dinner which was the birth of this thought space. Without realizing it, I have been conducting an experiment in human behavior for the past 10 months. The results have been astounding.

The friend, follower, and connection counts have grown but it isn’t about that – it’s about the human stuff and it all stems from one dinner.

I Know A Guy Who Knows A Guy

The amazing element of all this is the people you meet through the people you meet through the people you know. The six degrees of separation. Every person on the planet is linked to every person on the planet in six steps or less.

Have you experienced a situation where you couldn’t remember how you met someone? Through your network someone knows someone you know who introduces you to someone who is now your friend. Gladwell writes about it in The Tipping Point. The connectors, mavens and salesmen are everywhere - often all three reside in us at the same time.

The Network of Networks

Are we creating communities that coexist online as we do in life? Or are we making more true human connections than we would (say) by passing people in the mall?

The numbers are irrelevant – the human connections are important.

We Are All Just People

I have gained mentors, friends, colleagues and contacts. There is non-stop information and knowledge shared and all because someone reached out last year and asked me to join a group of people for dinner.

What is important is that if you are going to take from the social network you must be willing to give back and share.

Is Anybody Out There?

I received emails in the last couple of days because I hadn’t posted an Opinion or contributed to the Twitter conversation or posted information in my newsfeed. At the core of all this, we’re just people.

I worked for many years in radio, and just when you didn’t think “they” were listening, you’d get a sign. Thanks for the sign.

What are your thoughts?

km

Six Degrees? Try Two or Three

As you know, it is not a theory but a fact that every person on the face of planet earth can be linked to every other person in six steps or less. If you can disprove it, you’ll be up for a Pulitzer.

Proximity is probably the biggest factor in how we know who we know. But with electronic social networking, we can make true connections a lot faster. We can pinpoint specific regions and industries to reach.

We often forget that we are all just people. I have sent direct messages to complete strangers who may share similar interests and the responses have been surprising and wonderful. If you haven’t tried it, do so.

I have connected directly with people I have been introduced to by my growing network via Twitter. I have met wonderful people all over the world - people I would never have met any other way. The naysayers dismiss sites like this as merely another chat room for people to sprout off their incoherent musings. If you follow me, perhaps that theory is strengthened?

I've often wondered if hieroglyphics were ancient Egypt's version of Facebook.

Jeff Pulver wrote an excellent blog post the other day about how to more efficiently network your business via social media. It’s worth the read.

In 2008, I think we all need to be connectors, mavens and salesmen. I look forward to more.

km