Social Capital in the Blogosphere
In my last article I presented one of the key take aways from a presentation on Social Capital, namely that we have to open ourselves to ask for assistance.
In the past, prior to the creation of the “electronic frontier” or “cyberspace” (whatever the correct moniker should be), we were relegated to seeking such assistance from people that we were colocated with in face to face conversations. We now have the ability to seek assistance electronically as well.
Lisa Haneburg at her Management Craft blog describes the seemingly magical returns on the investment of asking ten people for their ideas on something you want to learn. Here is a great example of the power of posing a question to a vast, unknown network. Looking at some of the responses (discounting my own, of course)Â I see that she is getting some sound advice.
Reciprocity in the Blogosphere is being built this way. Here is an example: I get great insight from the writings of Matthew Cornell. I love his referential out links. They provide depth of coverage to his topics. He has frequently visited my site, provided feedback and pointed out additional reference sources. In my books, therefore, I would place high priority on assisting him if I could. So, I read about the topics he is covering and see if there is something I know that he might be interested in. When I read his article entitled “A simple and useful networking gift that anyone can give for free”, I immediately thought to see if he had covered the concepts around Social Capital and point him to the articles by Dr. Wayne Baker at the humax site. It might be a useful addition to his growing Personal Productivity practice.
Web 2.0 technologies such as del.icio.us, diigo and cocomment among many others, have allowed users to build thriving communities and networks. So when you are assessing your Social Capital, be sure to account for these sources as well. They may not be able to show up physically to babysit the toddler, but they have different ways of reciprocating!
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November 2nd, 2006 21:13
Excellent post, and not just because I’m listed!
I like the idea of thinking “How can I help *you*?,” something that the best books on networking emphasize. Well done.
November 3rd, 2006 07:45
Thanks Matthew!