Virtual vs Real Communities

As I spend my working days (and nights and weekends) interacting with with various community members from around the world, I find that I become disconnected from reality as I sit and stare at my computer screen. In fact, if I didn't leave the house to eat out or take my son to school, i would spend most of my week "meeting" with my community virtually. Strange that as community managers we tend to become isolated as most global communities only meetup a few times a year, if ever.

So, I am calling out to my fellow community managers to try and find a local, in-person community to belong to as it will break the isolation of a virtual community manager. I am starting tonight on this new effort by being a Science Fair judge for my local school system. The Education Foundation of Indian River County holds this event yearly and I am proud to assist the local education program by judging the science fair. In fact, I remember clearly my junior high project on corrosion and the impact of salt concentration and types of metal.

Remember, get out there and interact with real people once in a while or you will become virtual yourself!

David Blaine on TED

I am not sure why I am a David Blaine fan but I find his "magic" most interesting. Here is his video from TED on "How I held my breath for 17 min". In it he explains all that he went through to hold his breath for that long. Worth the 20 minutes to listen to while you are wandering the Internet.

Star Wars YouTube Movie Series

A bit off topic today than my usual thoughts on community management, but I had to write about the series of 7 videos on YouTube by RedLetterMedia. The 7 part series is a complete analysis of the destruction of the Star Wars legacy with the 3 prequel movies created by George Lucas. I highly recommend these videos to anyone who grew up loving Star Wars and couldn't believe how badly George Lucas destroyed everything with the Phantom Menace, etc.

The first part of the 7 videos is below: