These last few weeks have involved a lot of discussions around different ways to grow and be a part of community. In our content-driven marketplace, too often there’s a hierarchy of engagement that looks like this:
Passive engagement gets the pejorative “lurk” tag. Publishing content, feeding the machine, is held in the highest regard. I’ve definitely been guilty of perpetuating this myth.
In fact, I’m sort of doing that right now by breaking a vow I made to my mentor: shut up and listen.
Well perhaps he was kinder in his phrasing, the directive was stop producing and consume. Consume content like you’re starving. There are even check-ins about this, like an accountability group. My name is Amy, and it’s been 5 days since I created content.
This forced production break has been awesome, and I’m looking forward to another content consumption binge over the holidays. I’ve been reading this:
Reading Creativity, Inc makes you a unicorn.
Which made me think about this episode of Engineers Unplugged with Josh Atwell and Gurusimran Khalsa, where GS drops the mic by reminding us that being part of the community can be as simple and powerful as saying thank you or asking a question:
Which inspired me to document this:
If you would like to consume the brainstorm in shortened PPT form, I’ve posted Influence Marketing 201: Shut Up and Listen on SlideShare.
So go forth and pay some compliments, ask some questions, and consume some content! And thank you for listening.
CommsNinja: Influence Marketing 
Pingback: If content is created, does it have to make a sound? | The Borg Queen
I smiled when GS talked about playing podcasts at double speed, because that’s how I was playing the video! (To me, podcasts are too damned long, with very few insights-per-hour. Videos are mostly far shorter, and you can often hover over the play-bar to peek ahead!)
Lisa Caywood (Borg Queen) also had an interesting take on the madness of daily blogging. Still, I’m on a schedule too – 1 post per month these days. I figure it’s good to give the blog a pulse (even like a hibernating grizzly’s!), or readers’ll leave it for dead.
I make a habit of commenting on lots of blogs – as you might’ve noticed! Seems like a great way to get your name (and links) out there, as well as adding value to the host site. And it’s good for BOTH parties’ SEO. I usually invite bloggers to leave a link on my site in return, but usually nada. I’m amazed! Perhaps it reflects our self-obsession – no time to leave content on other sites as our heads are down writing our next post. (I’m no better, as 90% of the time it’s my own blog I link back to!)
BTW, Michelle Mazur had a great tip about how to put your Twitter handle on each slide. Might change my mind!