Everyone is connected

This ends my digital book report on Six Pixels of Separation

It is a must read

I will leave you with this quote

“In this world of interconnectedness, the bigger question is. How are you going to spread your story, connect, and add value to your life and the people whose lives you touch? Everyone is connected. Connect your business to everyone”.

A tag cloud Wordle based on chapter 14 Participation 2.0

In the chapter Digital Normad Mitch Joel talks about Mobile devices and how they are a big part of our daily lives. "we are going mobile, and it's happening fast".

He also reminds us to think of the mobile devices we seen in the past and how the limitations were very obvious.

Don't think so?

As an example I am going to post a photo of my first cellphone and you can see how much technology has changed.

Cute but very dated. It's main purpose was to make phone calls while I was away from home. I used it mainly for emergencies. Prior to this phone I used pay phones. 

Ah life before smartphones.

No texting, no music, no videos, no games, no e-mail, no web browsing, no online shopping, no apps and no social media.

Mitch Joel uses the term "Digital Nomad" which means we no longer only connect to the internet  using desktops and laptops. He even suggest we will see less cubicle, and office desk setup in offices and businesses.

Mitch Joel mentions that "Many people are quick to dismiss the power of the mobile device because of its small screen, use of mostly text, and limited graphics."

But this is quickly changing. Mitch Joel notes the changes in technology happening around the time this book was published in 2009.

Now we are seeing even greater changes with tablets, faster and more innovated smartphones like the iPhone and the Android.

Mitch Joel talks about finding your "niche" and how we should "choose one passion, nurture it and work it".

Now this can be easier said than done. What if you don’t know what your good at? or what your “thing” is? or maybe you have a few "things"?

Reading this section of the book reminded me of an old commercial I saw on tv many times as a child. The creator of this ad made it geared towards boys but the message is not gender specific.

It applies to anyone and everyone and ties in nicely with what Mitch Joel was discussing about the important of finding your “niche”. He suggests we should do "one thing great” and "focus" .

Mitch Joel mentions in the book how "user-generated content is not new". He takes us on a mini history lesson. He reminds us of cave wall paintings and how they were the earliest sign of communicating and producing image based content. They were used to give and deliver a message to the intended audience.

However the difference now is that with social media we are given great and often free publishing tools to share and express our thoughts and feelings with the world. 

This concept which is called in the book "know control" on one hand can be wonderful for your personal brand and business but it can also be negative and for some people scary.

Scary because by having your user generated content available on the internet for all to see you need to be careful because the result could be negative.  

However Mitch Joel acknowledges that you can't control the conversation surrounding your user generated content but you can control

"whether or not you take part",

"whether you will encourage your customers and/or followers to be so moved or passionate about your brands, services and products that they will contribute to the marketing of your company".

And you can control if you will be "available, present and active if things do go wrong"