Not a Numbers Person

I’m not a numbers person. In this day of social media overflowing into almost every aspect of our lives, many are drawn to it because of numbers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love some numbers. I do watch numbers. I check stats and even cheer them on.

What it matters me is someone clicked on the link. If I wrote something that mattered to them that day, they stayed long enough to read it. For a writer, being read matters.

Numbers Person? Too Much Information

Bombarded by too much information, there is no way that everyone can spend time to read everything that comes to them.

I get that! But getting read matters to me. At one point, getting comments on the blog itself mattered to me. Today’s conversation is often moved to social media.

When I started investigating social media, blogs I liked best had a community of people that regularly talked. It was because of that community I made many choices later on other social media formats. A few examples:

A Few of my Favorite People

Kim Woodbridge caught my attention early on. I loved the conversation on her blog and I learned things. Kim is a WordPress expert. I followed her as she explained many of the tips of working with a WordPress blog and her adventure as she decided to become a freelancer.

Kim even gets comments on a topic of Broccoli Soup! Kim keeps her blog real and interesting by giving great information and, at the same time, keeping it personal. I hired Kim to move my blog from an independent WordPress location to my website and to give it a facelift to match the website. I would hire Kim again because she understands the WordPress world far better than I do.

Jason Alba influenced me tremendously. We met on career industry e-lists and his willingness to be personable, caring, and helpful struck me. I read his blog posts then and still do. And follow his tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn growth. Jason is the example I cite for my clients when they worry about being unemployed. If you don’t know Jason’s story, click here. I’ve called him “the lemons to lemonade guy” more than once.

Numbers don’t count but connections do

Joe Jacobi gave me my first introduction to social media when he and Bob Campbell invited me to LinkedIn. He consistently leads by example by the way he uses Twitter, Facebook, and his video blogs  to communicate and grow community.

Joe came to Wausau for Wausau Whitewater this summer to coach at one of our training camps. By the time he got here and we went to dinner, we had more common ground than in the days when we only met on the river when he came to compete or coach.

Danny Brown was another person I met early in social media. From Danny, I learned how social media and fundraising can integrate and be successful. His project, 12for12K, was a clear inspiration of how to bring causes that many people never knew about and get community involved in working together. He showed me that even small amounts can do great things. He has a great way of communicating and building community and like Jason, even though I know he has much to do, he commented back to me. I am always amazed when people do that.

Expanded horizons

I could go on for pages of people who expanded my horizons and gave me joy through social media. But I won’t.

Before I end, I will say that if one person that has amazed me on social media, it was Marcel Murrell. At 95, he mastered Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook and entertained, counseled, inspired, and taught those of us who followed him along the way.

Numbers, no, not number of followers, numbers of friends, numbers of connections, not numbers. Instead lessons, friendships, community, and amazement are the reason behind my forage into social media.

How about you? Who inspired you and why are you here?