Over the last several days, I’ve asked for advice and thoughts from several people. I’ve listened to many friends tell me great things, and have felt blessed repeatedly by this network of people. If I’ve spoken to you in this way and your face isn’t here in this wall, it’s just because I was lazy, or didn’t find a picture I could use, or both (Becky, we need to meet in person). But I remember our talk, too. What matters most about this post is realizing why we’re all out there using our keyboards, our microphones, our cameras. We’re building something that can be so much more than the end product of any blog post or podcast. We’re building relationships that can matter a great deal. Sure, it’s cool to do what you’re doing with your podcast or your whatever. But this? The people? That’s what matters.
For all that blogging can do for you, for all the other ways you’re thinking about using Flickr or Twitter of Facebook, remember that the passion, the friendship, the camaraderie, and the deepening of relationships is what matters more than the rest of it. Because it’s the ability to reach out to these kinds of amazing people, to tell them something heartfelt, to share your dreams, your fears, your passions, your crazy moments, that will matter in the end. EVERYTHING I learned about making media points me to this: that the people I reach out to and connect with through this medium are often caring, compassionate, and energized thinkers in our midst, and they are the people you want to know and embrace.
The people you meet through making media like blogging and videoblogging are easy to contact. From there, it’s up to you to provide the friendship. Can you be there when they need you most? Do you have the extra time and compassion to be a friend? Do you want to help others simply because it makes you happy to feel helpful?
Build these digital relationships, but if you can, turn them as real as you can. Connect. Make it about being human, and make it about sharing in the lives of these incredible people you can meet along the way.
Tomorrow begins PodCamp Philly, organized by Whitney Hoffman and others. If you’re near Philly, drop in, and meet some legends. I’m not going to be able to make it this time. But I’ll be watching and happy from afar.
And if you can, swing by PodCamp Boston 2 this October and visit us. Bringing this from keyboards and hard drives into the face-to-face realm is the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Give it a shot. Visit a PodCamp near you. Or don’t, and just visit the people who you’ve met along the way who matter to you.
Thanks to Mitch Joel, Julien Smith, Laura Fitton, Rev Jon Swanson, Becky McCray, Bryan Person, Christopher S. Penn, Jeff Pulver,C.C. Chapman, Liz Strauss, Jim Kirks, Justin Kownacki, Bre Pettis, my wife Katrina, and whoever else I forgot to mention by name or by image.
Without you, it’s just not as much fun. With you, I might just stand a chance.
Photo credits, CC Chapman, Steve Garfield, and me.
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