These five words are some of the most common I ask in emails lately. Like anything done with repetition, it could be easy for them to lose their meaning.

But I’m serious.

How Can I Help You?

At your service (Photo credit: Cathdew)

You’re reading this now because you’re a regular reader, because you found it through searching for something, or because someone referred you here.

I write about things I’m interested in writing about, but I’m definitely interested in what you’d like to find.

Leave a comment below or contact me directly.

Do you have a PIMP list? I do.

Asking this question raises a number of eyebrows, because of what we often think of when we see the word PIMP. It doesn’t mean what you think it might (or maybe it does?).

For a few years now, I’ve occasionally mentioned on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere that I have a PIMP list. Some have seen themselves on my Facebook PIMP list and have wondered if that’s a good thing or not. I’ve needed to write a blog post to explain what it is.

This is that blog post. (Finally!)

How we build relationships

PIMP relates to building relationships and is part of my own social media strategy and social media management. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and other social media tools make up the digital neighborhood of the 21st century.

Having a PIMP list is a useful way to measure the depth of those relationships. We don’t know our neighbors, but we spend hours at a time online with other “friends” (I use that term in quotes because we know not all “friends” are really Friends.). If you’re using Google Plus, then you know about putting contacts into circles.  We’ve all done this in some way, either subconsciously or consciously.

Some examples…

As I’ve used Twitter and other social media networking tools over the years, I’ve enjoyed several moments when I’ve finally met someone in-person whom I’ve only known online. Here are a few examples:

• I can still remember the first time I met Rich Palmer at the Tim Horton’s on Miller Lane in Dayton in 2006. I’d been listening to his Audio Gumshoe podcast for about a year, and it was great to have finally made the connection in-person. I believe those times we’ve spent time together since then have strengthened the relationship that originated online from an independent band and some mishaps I’d had with fire. Long story.
• I also remember meeting Jim Farley the first time at the Panera on Miller Lane in Dayton. I’d known Jim through hearing his music on other podcasts like Ed’s Mixed Bag and Adam Curry‘s Daily Source Code.
• The first time I ever met Cliff Ravenscraft in person was at the very first New Media Cincinnati meetup in October 2007. I’d connected with him via Twitter and Facebook, and had even gotten to chat with him through Skype beforehand. But it was the in-person meeting and others since then that have brought the relationship deeper.
• I remember getting to meet Bryan Person for the first time as he was driving through Cincinnati on his move from Boston to Austin. That very small, impromptu Social Media Breakfast at the First Watch in downtown Cincinnati was definitely worth the wait.
• Last October, at the first ever PodCamp Cincinnati, I finally got to meet John Blue from Truffle Media, whose name and voice I’ve often heard on the Marketing Over Coffee podcast.

The list goes on and on.  Every month when we meet together, in-person, for New Media Cincinnati or some other tweetup or social media event in Cincinnati or elsewhere, we take the online conversations offline.  Because of the connectedness the social networking tools provide us, we just pick up the conversations where we left off.  And when we leave the in-person meeting, we pick up the conversations online again.

What is a PIMP list? Is this really a good thing?

I hope you are not taken aback by this concept of a PIMP list.  Tweetdeck, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and others let you organize people we connect with into different lists – circles, if you’re using Google Plus. These mechanisms let you filter conversations and make your use of the tools more relevant to you.

Over time I’ve changed how I use lists. On Twitter, for example, I have an “All Friends” list, a “Must Read” list, a “Clients” list, and a “Local Folks” list. Similarly, on Google Plus I’ve got a Cincinnati circle, a Podcasters circle, and a Gaming circle.

But I also have a PIMP list and a PIMP circle. I use these to show the progress I’m making toward taking those online connections into the real world.

PIMP: People I’ve Met Personally.  I look forward, if we haven’t already, to adding you there.

Your turn…

Do you have any lists or Google Plus circles like this? What are your strategies for managing contacts on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus? I’d love to hear what you’re doing to manager your relationships on these platforms.

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Resolutions are not my thing. Since 2010 I’ve used three words to set the tone for my year. That year it was “Be more helpful.” Last year the theme was “Focus, Intention, Deliver.”

This year the words are “Simplify, Serve, and Create.”

SIMPLIFY

I’m known for being able to take complex ideas and explain them in a way that is simple and easy to understand. In the way I live my life, however, that’s not quite the case. This year I’m looking to simplify my life: how I do things, what I have. This involves trimming down what I own, unsubscribing from a lot of email, and removing a lot more of the friction that exists in the processes that govern how I live.

SERVE

There is work we’re all meant to do, people we’re meant to serve. I’ve spent much of the past several years working on identifying what that means for me. For a long time I’ve been drawn to causes and non-profit work. I already volunteer my skills and expertise at a number of non-profits. I love being able to elevate a cause with story using new media.  We’ll see where this takes me in 2012.

CREATE

When I’m not creating something, I’m not fulfilled.  I look forward to writing more, drawing more, painting, recording and developing audio and video, whether for myself or for clients.

So here we are toward the end of the third week of 2012. Let’s get going.

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(via The Christian Left's Facebook page - submitted by Larry Fox)

This question came up at the September 2011 New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday event, “Questions From A Hat,” in which attendees wrote questions down and put them in a hat to be selected by the moderator later on.  I was in Columbus that day helping run audio/video for another event, but Vickie Sceiferssent me the audio, and I got a sneak preview of it, which will go up soon as a New Media Cincinnati Podcast episode.

Back to the question…

You’re asking the wrong question. Seriously.

Everyone’s use of social media is going to be different, and that’s okay.  But to be effective, before knowing HOW to use the tools, you need to know WHY you’re using them in the first place. Are you trying to build brand awareness, or communicate news and information? Are you trying to build a fan base? What are you doing?

Like the watercooler.

Twitter is different from other social networking platforms because of its 140-character limit.  Get in, state your peace, get out.  It’s like stopping by the break room at work to get a drink of water or refill your coffee. You chat with a coworker briefly and then you head back to what you were doing before.

WHY are you using Twitter?

If your answer is because someone told me to, or I don’t know, then stop. Your use of social networking tools, just like any tool, has to come from why.  Why do you use the telephone? Why do you use email?  When is one tool right for communication and when is one not? Here’s how I’m using Twitter:

• One of my Twitter accounts, @quotesblog, exists just to share interesting quotations, mostly repurposing what’s already at http://quotesblog.blogspot.com/. I don’t do much interaction there.
• I have the Twitter account for @jazzmania, which is primarily for the business I’m building through Jazzmania Productions.  I’m still working out my overall strategy for this account and haven’t been posting there much yet.
• I have the @newmediacincy, which is for the New Media Cincinnati social media networking group. This primarily communicates from the blog and Facebook page, and occasionally from me or someone on its behalf.  There may or may not be much interaction there because…
• My @danieljohnsonjr is my main Twitter account.  My current goal is to stay connected with as many in the local Cincinnati community as I can as well as those I know from other circles where I’ve been involved.  I use it to share links from this blog, as well as other content I find interesting.  I cannot stay in touch with many from this account as I used to, so I rely on @mentions and DM’s from others.  Over time my use of Twitter has been more to share information and occasionally engage and interact with others.  I tell people if they want interaction from me, follow and @danieljohnsonjr.

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It’s April 2009. I’ve been running the New Media Cincinnati social media group for a year and a half. Still connecting with people in the Greater Cincinnati area. Still passionate about taking online connections in the real world.  I decide to take the day off the job that had the commute up to the Dayton area and make time to connect with my online friends in Cincinnati.

I put out the call on Twitter and Facebook, saying that I’d like to meet anyone who’s interested at the Max and Erma’s on Montgomery Road.  Among many who respond is Andy Warner, whom I’ve only known on Twitter and Facebook. We’ve never met in person.

Lunch at the Max and Erma’s goes really well. We’re all encouraged to meet together on a day that’s not the second Saturday of the month.  Andy and I hit it off well, and over the next several months we continue to meet from time to time.  I share my copy of Chip and Dan Heath’s “Made to Stick” with him, because it resonates so deeply with me. Andy even makes it out to a New Media Cincinnati event.

Some months later, Andy lets me know via Instant Message (because we’ve become that great of friends) that he’s moved to Portland, Oregon for a new job.

Many months later he invites me to be on his new podcast, “Mind Tilt.”  Andy describes it as “thought leadership at the intersection of sales, marketing and strategy.”  Last week he releases it to the public: 

Daniel has a deep passion for connecting strangers and promoting the richness of personal stories.  This driving force for Daniel is clearly evident in everything he does from his early days of daily phone calls during his commute to weekly lunch meetups to founding New Media Cincinnati.  Daniel and I discussed his learnings with New Media Cincinnati during this week’s conversation.

I’m honored that Andy let me come on his program and talk his head off  and tell the story of building community here in Cincinnati.  Check out our conversation here: Mind Tilt Podcast Episode 8 — Daniel Johnson Jr – A Community Manager Fighting for the Users.

A privilege and an honor, he lets me talk his head off about my approach in building and managing a vibrant community.

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Everyone has a story

Anthony Marco recently gave a talk at the PAB2011 conference in Ottawa, Canada in which he talks about The Unattended Moment in the Communication Jam. He describes it like this:

• When you realize the act of communication distinguishes itself from the message.
• When, during the delivery of the message, you recognized a moment of authenticity, skill, or method as paramount to the content.
• When someone else’s story becomes yours, as you get the sense that you have become part of the performance, too.

This happens a lot during concerts, conferences, and movies, as well as many other situations.

I am so grateful for many Unattended Moments that I’ve experienced recently. For instance:

• At church four women didn’t have the accompaniment track for “Blessed and Highly Favored,” which they were performing in the coming week. I find a YouTube clip and they practice in the A/V room as I produce and upload other content. I have to stop what I’m doing because the harmonies resonate so powerfully that I get shivers. Who am I that I get to enjoy this experience before everyone else?
• My daughter and I attend the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2, the last installment of the series. The cinema is decked out with posters and other memorabilia. People have come, dressed up in costume. Everyone is there to celebrate the moment. As my daughter and I sit in the front row for the 3D movie, we can almost reach out and touch the action.
• At nearly every New Media Cincinnati Second Saturday event I’ve organized or facilitated, when I look around at faces old and new and see just how important this is to the community.
• This past month at every church service, when it came time to help project the media to the screen in support of whomever is speaking. I stretched to figure out how to get video and graphics up to the audience, often making it happen at the last minute.  Partly just to see if it could be done, but mostly because I want the story to be told.

I rejoice and long for more of those unattended moments, and I’m especially humbled when I’m able to do something to help make them happen.

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Cover via Amazon

I don’t know why, but ever since I got a copy of No More Mondays, Dan Miller’s follow-up to 48 Days to the Work You Love, I kept it sitting among the other books in my collection (Thanks, Brent!). It had been calling to me, like any one of those things you know you should do but keep putting off.

Updating my reading list

Seriously. I went to the library awhile back and checked out a couple handfuls of books. I even began reading some other books I’d gotten over the past six months.

But this book kept staring at me. It was one of those books I was initially so excited about reading that I updated the Amazon reading list in my LinkedIn profile to mention it.

So at the beginning of the year I began reading it with the intention of finishing it. I’ve realized that the content is so important to where I am right now in my life.

I’ve done this in the past with books in the Harry Potter series. I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book during the first weekend it came out. I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in about two days as well. I read the last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, before going to bed the night it came out.

It’s easy for me to do this with fiction because I can get engrossed in the story. This book quickly began to unravel my thinking about what I do for work. Whenever this happens, I realize I have to slow down and be more deliberate as I read.

Predictors of Success

In chapter 6 of No More Mondays, entitled “Secure” or “Imprisoned”?, Dan Miller talks about  5 Predictors of Success. They are

1. Passion. A person with passion is a person who can set goals. Someone with passion has intense emotional excitement about something that goes beyond mere enthusiasm.
2. Determination. With determination you can set priorities to guide you even amid circumstances that are challenging and unexpected. You don’t see circumstances as obstacles. You stay focused on your goals.
3. Talent. Think about the things you love to do whether or not you get paid. That’s where talent lies. Talent gives the ability to focus. No one can be talented in every area. Where do you rise to the top?
4. Self-discipline. The one with self-discipline is not easily swayed by others. Acting on the other predictors of success requires self-discipline. But make no mistake, this acting is not hardship or suffering. Instead there is joy because you’re focused and intentional in what you do.
5. Faith. Dan describes faith as “that intangible ingredient that moves a person past the initial planning and persistence.” If you believe and can see what you want in your mind, then it can become a physical reality.

What really struck me as I read this, was the fourth predictor: self-discipline.  It was as though Dan had written it specifically to me three years ago for where I am right now. As you might recall, my three words for 2011 are Focus – Intent – Deliver.

Maybe this helps you, too.

Note: some links to content here are affiliate links.

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Image by thinkingdigital via Flickr

Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design analyzes Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, using principles from her book Resonate (affiliate link), and reveals the magic behind its construction.

Her analysis inspires me to want to be a better communicator.

Click here to watch the embedded video.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech analyzed by Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design on Vimeo.

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Image via Wikipedia

How much is your time worth?

I recently read a story about Thomas Edison in the book Movers & Shakers: Deaf People Who Changed the World (affiliate link).

In the late 1800s, he got a job working for a business on Wall Street, by fixing their stock ticker when it had broken down and improving it so that it wouldn’t happen again. Years later when he and a partner were about to go into business together, his former boss asked to buy the patents he earned from the stock ticker.

Stop and put yourself in the inventor’s shoes for a moment.

Edison needs the money badly, but he isn’t sure how much to ask for. Should he ask for $5,000 or $3,000? He wants to ask for $5,000 but at the same time doesn’t want to make his former boss angry. At the turn of the 19th century, this still seems like a lot of money.

What would you do?

Edison asks his former boss how much he would be willing to pay for the patents.

“40 thousand dollars.”

Edison grips the table firmly and says, “That would be fair.” And they make the transaction.

With the $40,000 Edison was able to work full-time as an inventor.

I have to imagine that in Edison’s time there wasn’t really any market data on how much patents like his could sell for. By keeping his mouth shut and seeing what his former boss had to offer, he was able to see what the market would bear.

The early part of the 21st century has us in similar situations. Jobs are being created and there is work that needs to be done for which there may not be much data on how much the market can bear. While it’s important that we do as much as we can to find that data, it’s also important that we see the inherent value of our time, or in Edison’s case, ask those who would hire how much they see what we’ve done is worth.

How much do you value your time?

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I recently spoke to the Scarlet Oaks Return To Work Resource Center about how to use social media in the job search. When I mentioned Twitter, I emphasized its ability to connect with others who share similar passions, interests, and experience. Then I pulled up the Twitter Chat Schedule.

Twitter Chats – There are many!

Twitter is like that water cooler at the workplace, where we get to share short tidbits of information: useful and sometimes random. And we get to do this with people from all around the world, not just in our local community! Through the use of hashtags to contextualize Twitter updates, it’s possible to have a Twitter Chat, in 140 characters at a time.

Twitter Chat Schedule

This sort of thing happens informally whenever there is a breaking news event. For example, any major snow event will probably create a slew of interesting #snOMG tweets from people affected by it.

Any conference or event will probably have a hashtag associated with it.  The hashtags are a great way for anyone interested in the topic to find more about what’s going on for that particular topic. We’ve used this for New Media Cincinnati – our current hashtag is #nmcincy.

As of this writing the Twitter Chat Schedule has close to 270 regularly scheduled chats. Of the few that I’ve participated in, there is usually a moderator and there are guided questions for those who participate.

Whether you’re in the job search or simply want to find other people online to chat with about any one of your areas of interest, I encourage you to check this list out and get involved. Here’s a short, non-representative sampling:

• #LinkedInChat – weekly chat with questions/advice on how to use LinkedIn effectively
• #eLearnChat – weekly discussion and video simulcast about eLearning
• #AgChat – weekly chat about the agriculture and farming business
• #HFChat – aims to put job seekers in touch with HR folk and recruiters, providing tips, advice, and help

If you don’t find something that you’re interested in among this list, you can start your own. Check out this article for details: HOW TO: Start and Run a Successful Twitter Chat

Please let me know if you have any questions, problems, or comments.

Thanks and make it a great day!

Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Cincinnati, Ohio

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