Daniel Johnson, Jr.

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.

No one cares more about your cause more than you.

When I first got started as a community manager, this was one lesson I had to learn quickly. I often wondered why it felt like I was the only who cared about putting together a networking group and online community management framework.

Even now, many years into it, I’m extremely grateful for all the volunteers who put their time and effort into helping make the group work.

Some would love to do more if only asked. Others cannot.

Especially as volunteers in a community, everyone plays at their own level of commitment and involvement.

Be respectful of that fact.

Level Up letterpress (Photo credit: artnoose)

It was January 2002. I had some down time on a project at work and was given permission to do some outside stuff. So I signed up and started my first blog, entitled Journey Inside My Mind. I later spun that blog off to a few more niche sites; among them were QuotesBlog and Get That Job!

I’ve launched other blogs and have put several up on the shelf over the years. I migrated many of my sites from Blogger’s Blogspot platform to WordPress.

One thing I’ve noticed in myself and others, especially as sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus have become more popular, is that we’re not blogging as much as we might have in earlier times.

I don’t think this is entirely a good thing. No, not at all.

Why aren’t you blogging more?

I cannot speak for you, so I’ll speak for myself.

Feedback-loop-general (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a blogger one thing I’ve always craved is feedback from others. Even when I was podcasting much more frequently some years ago. We always wanted to know that what we created wasn’t sent out into some void that no one paid attention to. Social networking sites provide that feedback, even if it is only a Like, a Reply, a Retweet, a +1 or something else. My circle of connections is defined, and they more readily know when I’ve done something on those platforms. So it’s easy to post there.

But a question like the one posed in this post begs another: why blog at all?

If you liked this post, click here to share it with your network!

Want to read more like this from Daniel Johnson, Jr.? If you do, subscribe right now!

 Get via Email   Add to Google   Subscribe to the Feed

This website contains affiliate links to products and services I recommend. Please review the Privacy Policy as it describes how information provided may be used by third parties.

Let’s get this out of the way:

Lock your doors via vshioshvii from Flickr

I have not, nor will I ever give my social networking credentials to a prospective employer. What I have already made public is good enough.

If you’re looking to hire me and one of the conditions of employment are that I hand over my login credentials to Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, or any other social media platform, then we’re not a good fit for one another. That may mean that, all other things being equal, we’re both missing out on doing some great work together.

If people don’t buy what you do – they buy why you do it, then what does the practice of asking potential employees for their Facebook passwords say about why you do what you do? No, in this case your WHY and mine do not align, and we’re not going to work together.

Unless. Read the rest of this entry »

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!)
Read the rest of this entry »

What does jazz have anything to do with social media, digital marketing, and helping stories get told, you ask?

Improvisation.

Improvisation (or The time of a note...) (Photo credit: ePi.Longo)

Consider these quotations I borrowed from Lukasz Langa‘s DailyImprov.net:

In 1968 I ran into Steve Lacy on the street in Rome. I took out my pocket tape recorder and asked him to describe in fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation. He answered: “In fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation is that in composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in fifteen seconds, while in improvisation you have fifteen seconds.” His answer lasted exactly fifteen seconds. – Frederic Rzewski

Even if you’re improvising, the fact that beforehand you know certain things will work helps you make those improvisations successful. It really helps to have a certain amount of knowledge about musical structure. — John Cale

Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, but that’s what we face when we’re dealing with improvisation. — Jan Garbarek

Story

A couple weeks’ ago I’m on a project helping with sound and media for a church function. I’d heard that there was a video the team would want played. Not a problem, I’m thinking. What typically happens is that we get the video burned onto a DVD or some other media. It’s easy to bring it right into the MediaSHOUT software we use. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever wanted to attend a conference but couldn’t break away from where you are to attend? Last year at this time, I shared the first ever Pixelated Conference That Changed My Life.  This conference let’s you attend from the comfort of your computer whenever you want. The only cost is your time and attention.

In this post I present Pixelated Conference II: Targeting, Positioning, and Brand Strategy. I’ve been teaching a Marketing class at Antonelli College this term, and we’ve been talking about these concepts recently. Grab a pen and paper, and get ready to take some notes. Let’s join the conference, already in progress… Read the rest of this entry »

SERVE (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

“If you have something to say, if you have a message to deliver, if there are people you want to serve, then there are people in this world you are meant to serve.” – Michael Port, from Book Yourself Solid (emphasis added)

You might be doing work you love, work that matches your skills and abilities, personality, values, dreams, and passions. Or maybe you aren’t.

Last year at this time, I read Dan Miller’s “No More Mondays“. It changed how I look at things like job, career, and vocation. It forced me to ask, “What work have I been put here to do?”

I believe we’re all here to do more than take up space and consume resources. We’re all meant to make the world a better place.  What are some areas where YOU feel you’re meant to serve?

Related articles

• Oprah on not letting others play you small (quotesblog.blogspot.com)
• Learning to live for what you love (bahiehk.com)
• Personal Challenge: Serve Others (ceceliafutch.wordpress.com)

If you liked this post, click here to share it with your network!

Want to read more like this from Daniel Johnson, Jr.? If you do, subscribe right now!

 Get via Email   Add to Google   Subscribe to the Feed

This website contains affiliate links to products and services I recommend. Please review the Privacy Policy as it describes how information provided may be used by third parties.

Imagine a deep wound that has been healing nicely, bandaged up. It doesn’t even hurt any more.

Now imagine that bandage being yanked off so the wound reopens.

That’s what it’s like whenever we find out Keisha’s lost more hearing.  As much as we could try to brace ourselves for the news, it still hurts.

Today my wife Jennie and I got to feel that again.

Read the rest of this entry »

I received an email from LinkedIn this morning. They’ve suggested I join these groups, since some of my connections have also joined them. The reasons why I won’t are intrinsic to the group names.

I find it interesting that they know so much about my social graph on LinkedIn to be able to suggest groups in the first place, and I like that they’re looking for ways for me to get more out of their website.

Here’s what the email says: Read the rest of this entry »