A Blog's Audience

The topic of blogging came up in a recent conversation with a good friend, Mike Toner. I brought up my constant intrigue with the role of blogging in the world. I conveyed to Toner that I am not 100% sold on the idea that social media serves an integral role in interconnecting people. My quest to better understand the world of social media has caused me to turn to the source, my blog, for some potential answers. It is my belief that one benefit of this outlet is connecting with people whom I may not otherwise connect (i.e., "communicat[ing] my ideas and hear[ing] yours" as I said in my first post). Here is my attempt.

My concern about social media rests within three main points.

1. I strongly argue that understanding an audience is a key component of interconnecting people. Central to my leadership philosophy is the phrase, "Gauge people then Engage them." A main point of debate in my conversation with Toner was the conflicting views we have on the role of an audience in the world of social media. I posit that understanding an audience and actually having one are required before I attach the word "social" to anything. If there's no one reading this, or some folks that I do not have the opportunity to know (and they never comment), then nothing social is happening. What makes people want to read someone else's blog that they do not know? How can I get better at relationship-building without knowing and understanding my audience?
2. Blogs lack creative controversy. One of the things that makes us learn as humans in a dynamic society is our ability to engage in meaningful dialogues with each other on a regular basis. If you disagree with this post, we have gained more than if you passively agree. Posts must cause the reader to invest in a thought, then in some capacity discuss it with someone else in order for anything "social" to happen. Does this happen more often than not with social media? That is my million dollar question.
3. Blogs that serve as journals or resource libraries disrupt the level of person-to-person interaction that I deam invaluable. Am I now just arguing against the internet as a whole? No. But I think that as we move further towards purely online resource libraries (talk to any high school student now about resources they use to write a paper and I'm sure wikipedia is central to their arsenal) and communication outlets we move further away from our best primary source...an in-the-flesh person. Instead of rushing back online (another problem) to see if anyone responded to this post, shouldn't I just expect that someone will call me and talk about it?
   

What I value most about this venue for discussion is that I am still learning from it. It is currently giving me the opportunity to reflect, improve my self-awareness, and offer a contrasting opinion. This post is proof that I am thinking deeply about something that I wasn't thinking about months ago. I offer up my thoughts not as criticism against those who deeply believe in this, but to solicit their opinion towards the dissenting (and maybe converting) opinion.

Leadership Resources

I have been working on a project for work recently that I wanted to share with you. I have been charged with looking at one of our leadership development programs and assessing how we should change, recreate, and/or suspend it to better align with our mission. My work on this task brings back many great memories of my Program Evaluation class with the one and only Peter Magolda at Miami University. Essentially, I'm doing "backyard research" for all you CSP junkies.

Anyway, what I see as relevant for this blog is not what the program is about or the work I have done assessing it, but instead the information I have found that I think you might find useful. Check it out and let me know what you think...there are a lot of cool opportunities out there for people like us. I just wonder how often we take advantage them. The web page where I combined this information for students is here.

Please also share resources you have so I can add them to this list.

Am I really doing this?

I'm not a "blog person." But yet I've decided to create this blog as a way to communicate my ideas and hear yours. I say I'm not a "blog person" because I think face-to-face interaction will never lose its value in society. I believe so strongly in the power of dialogue and the importance of what can be learned from the simple presence of another human being.

But I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that we are privileged to live in a society that also benefits from technological advances that allow us the opportunity to have non-traditional dialogue. That is my hope for this blog.

I'll be explicit about the three things I'd like to talk about on this blog:

1. I want to talk about leadership
2. I want to talk about the human spirit and bold ideas
   
3. I want to talk about what I've learned about mutuality through Multiple Sclerosis
   

These are the things that will make me want to look at this blog on a daily basis...and hopefully bring you back every once in a while to check it out. In that sense, it has a built in self-assessment. We'll see if it works.