What Were Your First Steps

Hi, Chris -

My first step into social media was my first blog in 2002. I didn't start a blog to be in social media, though. I started it because the blogging platform was a good CMS system and I needed one for my articles.

As I started to understand the power of social media, I started following the work of folks like Seth Godin, Shel Israel, later Liz Strauss. It's always been a struggle for me to fully make use of social media, including following in the Internet sense, and maintain a full-time solo business. Still is.

I started by diving in. I couldn't figure out any other way other than to figure it out by doing it. Installed WordPress on my site and just started to add my articles. Learned as I went.

My advice to someone starting out is just to dive in, don't overthink it and analyze it to death. Social media is best understood by doing it, not by pondering it.

What will I do in the next few months with social media? Remain open to what comes, organically. Hone what I use down to manageable scale. Pick and choose what works best for me and connects me best with folks who teach, entertain and inform me.

I started this whole social networking stuff this past December. I was taking a marketing class for my MBA and decided one day to Google marketing blogs. I stumbled upon Gapingvoid by Hugh MacLeod and was hooked. From there I clicked on his blogroll and started reading and following.
At first, I joined nearly every social site I found but have since scaled back to just the few I find really interesting.
I would tell a first-timer to jump in with both feet and become an active participant. There are some great people out there saying facinating things.
I plan on to keep interacting and building relationships, both personal and professional, through Twitter, reading and commenting on blogs and writing my blog. Relationships I hope to extend to my off-line life as well.

Depending on how you want to describe it I suppose you could say that my first step was sharing samples on a BBS back in the early 90's but that's obviously not the same as now.

Mid 90's I started a UFO news website which I updated regularly so that could be seen as my precurser to blogging and got in to IRC and ICQ but after that things went a bit quiet until I started blogging nearly 5 years ago.

It was the likes of Scoble that really got me in to it coupled with a passion for technology so I figured that I had something to say. Times change and I've refocused but am still going strong. I can't remember how I came across Twitter but I checked the other day and my first tweet was 26th Dec 2006.

My advice would be just to get involved. Find some existing friends who are already using social media and hook up with them first before expanding your circle. Obviously don't fall in to the trap of adding too many people too quickly or you'll be thought of as a spammer.

Communicate. Speak to people, don't follow and run but get involved - you never know where it might take you.

In the next 6 months I see myself trying more things. I keep toying with the idea of podcasting or vlogging (maybe getting started with Utterz) but I am looking at establishing my voice after I rebranded my blog a month ago.

Who knows, a job in social media circles would be awesome but I haven't worked out how I'll get there yet.

There's nothing brand new about social media; my first steps into it were in 1981 when I began corresponding with groups of people through computer bulletin board systems (BBSs). Later, in the pre-blog days, I started an informational web site and periodically wrote myth-busting articles. I am a Product Manager, so upon the arrival of bona fide blogs, I mostly remained a lurker and mostly used blogs as another input to my companies' product strategies, using them as an input to learn unofficial "word on the street" information, which I could validate through more formal research channels. I recently moved to a new community and met several community organizers, non profit directors, and small business owners, each needing to use blogs for their respective reasons. I began in earnest to blog, mostly to teach them how to blog for themselves. I am not a pro blogger by any measure, but as a semi-marketer, I suggest to those who have a solid body of writing that can be leveraged to make their internet presence more sticky, such as articles, newsletters, and salient stories that would illustrate their companies' missions, or useful "tips and tricks" that would make their products or services more valuable, to reinvest these into a blog that is hosted on or connected back to their main web site. For myself, I will for the time being limit my participation to community involvement and otherwise continue to lurk.

I think I'd probably have to split my "first steps" into two stages - the first dabbles and then the genuine steps towards involving myself in social media.

The first dabbles were a good while ago, looking at the likes of del.icio.us, digg and myspace (for my sins). But never with great involvement, and the only consistent thing I did was occasionally post to Livejournal.

It's only really towards the end of last year that I got back into things, started blogging on a regular basis myself, and involving myself in wider social networks. I think the important think was realising that I had niche interests, and that I'd often found the likes of digg to be too wide ranging and too trivial. Now I focus on the likes of Sphinn and Mixx. I also think I'm more enthusiastic because of the greater interactivity of social media now, particularly the likes of twitter.

I'm not sure there are particular individuals I admire. Perhaps Maki at DoshDosh because, although I'm not personally looking to make money directly from social networking, I think it's reading there that really motivated me to get more involved on all levels.

MySpace
Facebook
Craigslist (Groups etc)
Facebook (2nd time)
10 other Social Networks
Facebook (3rd time) and I finally really really like it!

Now ;) simplified to:
Facebook
Blogs (I am interested in and respect)
Twitter tweet...tweet...tweet ;) (wow what a place to gain knowledge and inspiration on the fly and to the point!)

adding great blogs to the list daily but, being selective:)

Call me crazy but, I feel that by doing what you love and are truly interested in that you will be much more happy with your "work" or "business". My wife actually gets, a little flustered at how much I LOVE what I do.

Thanks Chris! You kick muchos ass

cheers
Aronado

*oops

For new people.
1. Know why you are here (objectives)
2. create a plan (do it! daily)
3. Be consistent
4. Be yourself and don't worry because not everyone will want to "be your friend" or be interested in you. Get over it and move on ;)

I recently joined the social media creators after being inspired by Darryl Ohrt over at the Plaid blog www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com. My path was simple:

- first get over fear (of not contributing something good)
- blog every day
- try to be genuinely insightful and helpful about my industry
- comment on others' blogs and ideas
- network with other tools such as Twitter and Facebook

The irony is that after six months, our blog www.thoughtgadgets.com caught the attention of an editor at BusinessWeek, and now I've written a few columns for the BW technology section. So social media led right back to MSM.

I've learned from you, Chris, that chasing traffic stats isn't the real point (although tempting, especially in the early phase). My greatest traffic spike came after posting a bit on the Green Bay Bikini girls, and I realized, dudes chasing chicks isn't really my target reading audience. The real value of social media is connecting with and helping a handful of close friends or clients. I find the process of creating content also helps me -- and our agency -- become smarter and more insightful about trends in the ad industry.

About three months into blogging, I had a biz dev call with a potential client who asked about internet advertising. I rattled off ideas for 15 minutes ... concepts that I never would have understood prior to connecting socially with the leading minds in the industry, via their blogs and my responses.

So I think I've discovered social media is not about scale; it's about intimacy, knowledge, and eventually helping oneself grow.

I started with a livejournal about 6 years ago and art sites and took a stab at dozens of participatory sites that popped up and finally settled on a WP blog as the main hub of my personal 'empire' on the web!

I don't believe in the 'blog everyday' idea, I prefer the "blog when you are inspired and don't publish until it has a completed thought" style, but I don't blog about current events I only blog to inspire and motivate myself (and share those thoughts).

Here's an example of how blogging and social media can create more than the sum of the parts. I had a dream, a crazy sci-fi dream and figured I'd write about it, perhaps to decipher a meaning, something I do on spirituality sites.

The post turned into a tiny sci-fi story that ended up referencing a painting that I posted and linked to my Flickr account where the 'moral' of the story (perhaps) was already there, something I had written several years ago and suddenly realized was the point of the dream.

Linking thoughts up, thoughts that you have scattered across the web from different times in your life can be a fruitful exercise! try it!

The master of conversation strikes again.

First steps were chatting with people in neighboring towns on a BBS in 1990. I downloaded a BASIC version of Pac-Man and thought I was whatever Bill Gates would become.

Early admirers included Hank Newsome, the three-years-my-younger geek who showed me how to get online, find people and write some basic code. Once I started reading blogs, it was fiction and narrative non-fiction writers (I fancied myself to be the next David Sedaris, minus living in France and being gay.) until I saw one day that I could use social media to help my PR clients. Owyang and you, sir, were my first two Must Reads.

I started in high school learning about computers, then figured out how to self-publish in 1998 to put my newspaper humor column on the web for all to see. Technically, I was blogging, even though we didn't call it that then.

Advice? Read Brogan, Owyang, don't inundate yourself with echo chamber blogs, find a niche you fit in well personally or professionally, network on- and off-line with those influential there and concentrate on providing your community of friends and followers with meaningful content. Do that and you'll be a star.

Hopefully revolutionize the way at least one (maybe more) brands market themselves. But don't hold me to it.

Not sure this would be considered Social "Media" but 30 years ago, I set up a CB radio base station in my bedroom and used to "chat" with my friends (most of whom I didn't really know - just like with today's teens and "chatting"). Since then, I'd say AOL 1.0 chat rooms, then the big leap to Digg. As for an role models? Hmmm, I'll have to think on that.

-find a friend/mentor/inspiration.
-converse with them every possible way.
-try new stuff because you are thinking more about the interaction than about perfecting a new technology
-follow introductions in the same friendly way.

suddenly you know a lot and are going to SOBcon to learn more.

Because, for some of us, it's about the friendship/relationships.

So excited, Chris Brogan interviewing me!

What were your first steps into social media?
V- Yahoo Groups and message boards a while back, but I didn't know it then. My first realization was Facebook about a year and a half ago.

Who were your early people you admired and followed?
First big star was Jeremiah Owyang

How did you get started?
V- I got a job for an online community vendor.

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
V- I'm a big believer in finding the right tools. I have always been a lurker on blogs, but recently started using Commentful from Blogtronix and now am motivated to comment. I can keep track easily of where I've been! The right tools are key to organization and efficiency. I can't say I have it figured out, but trying to.

What will you do in the next few months with social media?
V- Keep on Tweeting and implementing online communities for enterprises

My first step/introduction to social media was at Podcamp Toronto 2007. It was life altering. That's no joke.

You, Mark Blevis, Bob Goyetche and Jay Moonah were the people that were so open to sharing your insights and experience with me. And you all continue to share and answer my silly questions. Thanks!

After the event I was completely hooked. I went home and started reading and experimenting and asking questions and exploring. Then I started blogging myself and now I am planning to start a podcast. Social media has also started to influence the web projects I'm working on in a big way.

The advice that I give now to people who are starting out is be curious. Read a lot and discover and play. Ask the community for help/advice if you need it. And, perhaps most importantly, be a CONTRIBUTOR.

In the next few months, on a personal level I will be starting a podcast. Professionally I will be working with our clients to help them start to take advantage of all that this space has to offer.

There are so many places to go, it can be overwhelming. I've scaled back to my own blogs, finding new blogs I enjoy, Twitter (@gethomedenver) and facebook. Been thinking of Linkedin, but not sure I have the time.

Little known fact: I experimented with blogging from Dec 2005-July 2006 as the Science Vigilante: http://scivig.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html. What I lacked then: community and connection. I wasn't using a blog reader or reading a lot of other blogs. I just came across stories in the news.

Early 2007 I started to read blogs more, and even pitched some of my "top 10 tips" sheets to a few bloggers. (Much love to Seth Levine for picking them up, my first-ever blog "ink!")

My real start was March 2007 when I started "Great Presentations Mean Business" (gpmb.wordpress.com) as a way to build up a "database of my ideas" on the web. It has been a great way of marketing my consulting business. That blog continues today as my website, www.pistachioconsulting.com.

Bloggers I loved reading from early on: Doc Searls, Jeff Nolan, Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Tara Hunt, Kathy Sierra, Brad Feld.

This story is thoroughly told elsewhere, but Twitter is what REALLY put the juice in my ability to network, connect and grow. The smartest thing I did was to play around with different ways of using Twitter, and the best advice I got was from you: "be human."

Where I am going with social media: 1) help convey the benefits of it to others, both for business and personal growth, and especially for nonprofits and social causes and 2) experiment further with making live events "more 2.0" www.mediacasters.tv, mashing up widgets, lifecasting techniques and popularity/quality/attention data sorting of content.

Immediately next? Hrm, probably I'll make this comment into a blog post. Thanks for the great questions Chris. :-)

That's a lot of topics to cover, so I think I'll just jump to advice for someone starting out. Two things:

1. Be far more concerned with how you can add value to the networked community, rather than how you can add "numbers" of virtual scalps to your belt.

2. Quickly move past the fascination with content and information, and realize that the true end game is creating new relationships. Best way to assist that: Twitter.

This is a very cool idea Chris - and a great collection of stories. I'll add mine:

I starting working with online independent artists (comic book websites, indie music, photographers, etc.) around 2003. Many of those people were the first ones experimenting with blogging, podcasting, etc. They were the ones who really introduced me - and they are too numerous to list here. At Bitpass we used internal blogs and wikis for development and marketing. While at Bitpass a small team of us also built a social networking site around independent music called Mperia - it was an awesome site but we didn't have any marketing muscle to make it really successful in its own right because it was a 'side' project for Bitpass. I also started a personal blog in 2005.

For me, social media has been more evolutionary than revolutionary because it always made a lot of sense to me that it was a good mechanism for self expression and collaboration...and it because it makes people more human. Twitter has taken it to a new level and people like yourself, @astrout, @Kanter, @Pistachio, and many others have exposed new perspectives for me personally that are very enriching.

Now that I track the market, it's been fascinating to watch the enterprise 'get' it.

Holy crap. It's been such a long and winding journey. I'm going to save the tastiest tidbits for a post on my blog - likely on bowlofcheese dot com - but here's the elevator pitch...

What were your first steps into social media?
An instant messenger account back in O'DarkHundred

Who were your early people you admired and followed?
I didn't even know other people were online, but I did poke around on AOL's communities to see what was happening.

How did you get started?
MCI Mail as a vehicle to send copywriting projects to MacConnection and PC Connection - my first two clients as a freelance writer. I wrote about floppy drives and MicroMat solutions and even about 1200baud modems.

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
There are a billion tools out there to get your message or personality or brand across. The first step should be defining your brand, message and intentions. THEN step into the pool slowly. Lurk a bit, don't be an idiot, watch some of the smarties and emulate them.

What will you do in the next few months with social media?
I'll be a featured columnist on two new online publications; I'll continue to blog on my multiple sites; I'll keep attending F2F events that give me true insight into the people behind the 'handles'; I'll continue my podcasts; and I'll keep refining my brand.

Oh, and this diatribe would be lacking without a full list of where you can find my stuff...it IS all about connecting, right?

http://www.bowlofcheese.com
http://www.jeffcutler.com
http://www.ideas2words.com
http://www.thingstoworryabout.com
http://www.189riders.com

jeffcutler on BostonNow
jeff cutler on Facebook and Myspace and Pownce
bowlofcheese on Twitter

Or just google me...I don't have a wikipedia page yet, but the results returned for 'jeff cutler' are mostly me.

THANKS!

Jeff

Instant Messaging is the gateway drug - you're an addict when you start social bookmarking - here's my journey:
email
instant messaging
suprglu
del.icio.us
popurls
hey blogs are fun to read
linkedin
myspace - icky
facebook - not icky, and can access with alum .edu email, but feel like a stalker
linkedin
linkedin
linkedin
facebook - it's good again - go figure?
twitter

Best advice? Join and contribute on LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter. Follow (or Friend or Connect with) people you know first, then people that interest you. If you're new to Twitter - and don't get it - stick with it and it'll make sense.

like above

email then
instant messaging
my space ( I agree with above icky)
personal blog
facebook

then it rolled like a snowball off a mountain!

Advice, start with one,'figure' it out then move onto another!

Fun Post Chris!

My space which was a totaly turn off
my potential clients were not there, I was not looking for a mate or a band, I could not figure out what the big deal was.

It sucked for me.
Facebook, would not let me register my real name, so that is lame for me too

Twitter is great, linked in is great for question and answers, plaxo, fsat pitch and ryze are actually financially rewarding for me.

What were your first steps into social media?
-Hmm...DailyKos (my userid is 1700-something) and blogforamerica, back in early 2003. Around the same time, I was trying to get my local Dems to put up a blog, starting out with Typepad...

Who were your early people you admired and followed?
-Neil Gaiman. lots of folks on blog4america. Steve Gilliard(RIP).

How did you get started?
-I've had bunches of stillblogs - I just wanted to try it out for myself, as a writer - first one was probably late 2004, I think... I wasn't consistent, because I didn't feel that I had a lot to say that would be as witty or as necessary as the people I admired. But, gradually I got over that because everyone's perspective is unique: including mine.

-If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
Just start. Don't worry too much about any of it - just start, knowing that you'll learn the right patterns and peculiarities of your own blogging (or any other social media tool) as you go along. Keep reading/listening to/watching the work of people you like...and even those you don't like, and that will start to help your own voice emerge.

-What will you do in the next few months with social media?
I'm starting a podcast, with 2 co-hosts and sometimes guests, about tech and new media in Japan - in English. kind of like TWIT or ODM, but not so much of a focus on up to the minute news, as talking with interesting folks here about what they're doing, what they dream of, challenges, etc. I'm nervous and excited...will probably ask Twitter friends for feedback and reassurance:-)

interesting question Chris, hope you feel better!

My first steps into social media would have been in 1995, age 13 - the Palace software was the drug ;) I logged on, fell in love with the idea that I could go anywhere in the world with a click of a button, meet new people and talk with them. A few months later, I created my own "Palace", called Kids Town USA... ah the memories :) This started the my love affair with social media, I started designing web sites professionally, hosting 2-D chat "virtual" events, and then eventually moved onto bigger and better.

Someone starting out, find something you like, or love, and get involved. Twitter is great for some, but not for others. Get involved with something you like online, something you think is neat, and join the conversation.

In the coming months, I think the crazy social world will continue to grow and morph into things and tools that we at this very moment can't even think of. Someone, somewhere is brainstorming the next big thing this very moment.

Ooh, how far back do you want to go with this? :D

My first use of using a toy to communicate was a CB Radio in 1975. I used it long into the mid 80's and even met people through it.

I used and ran BBS's on my Atari 800 from 1984-1986.

GEnie

My first use of the internet was at NJIT in 1988.

First it was Usenet, then IRC.
I had my first web site up around 1994ish. I have to look it up.

There were no "blogs" then, so I used different usenet groups to write about what I was doing.

Then came web forums.

And now, Facebook, Seesmic, Twitter, etc.

Besides family and meatspace friends email & IM (and a very minimal and locked-down Facebook presence), all of my social networking is under psuedonyms: mainly Twitter, also FriendFeed, MySpace, a smattering of other stuff.

Other than those who are pimping themselves out for professional reasons, it amazes me how much people are willing to put out there. Decisions made lightly to make information public these days are next to impossible to reverse. I'm very interested in technology and social media, but cautious optimism is my approach.

What were your first steps into social media?

Personally -

First Blogger blog in 2003
Facebook sometime soon after (although I didn't use it regularly until 2005)
Flickr
YouTube
MySpace
Twitter in mid 2006
Wordpress today

Professionally -

- Being a part of the team that put David Neeleman on YouTube during that horrible weekend in February 2006

- Helping to start JetBlue's Twitter (now being taken to great places by @MHJohnston)

Who were your early people you admired and followed?

Honestly, I blogged without a lot of knowledge of the blogosphere - it was only after I started to Twitter and reach out within NY Tech community that I met a lot of great folks.

Post Twitter-Scoble (when I first heard about him), Caroline McCarthy (new to CNET at the time, and she was awesome to introduce me to a lot of NY techies)

How did you get started?

Heard about blogs... I liked to write... off it went.

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?

Be yourself. Get involved in as many conversations as you're comfortable with. Go to meetups and events and meet other people who share the same mindset, you'll find vastly more good people than bad. Get on Twitter and start to follow people and listen to their views and opinions. You'll see it become an avenue of breaking views, sites and opinions...

What will you do in the next few months with social media?

Hopefully, help to make a real go of it for MTV/Viacom ;)

Chris..

Great question. For me, when I first received my first email address and signed up for the net then that is when my social media experiment started.

As a student in my last year of college, I was on a few list serves sharing information on a variety of issues when it came to finding out about graduate school. I was in touch with a few people for I met up with Tayari Jones who shared with me her experiences in Iowa and her opinion of going to school there. http://www.tayarijones.com/ [this is Tayari Jones] We were introduced by Dr. Donna Akiba Harper who was our professor at Spelman college (www.spelman.edu). Dr. Harper always sent me information via email about law schools and students from my college who were in law school so I valued her opinion. [There was not a social networking community now of lawyers who were a graduate of my school but now we have one via the NING community]

I took a year off before starting law school but during that time I used the internet a lot to find out more about law school and students who went to the schools I was interested in. Further, I was hired by MSBET.com (BET's first web site) to work with their first web site in 1996 and my first assignment was to help create a social community to help spread the word about the website.

Now with how technology has changed I am so happy for twitter and many other social communities because those layers I had to go through back then were extremely time consuming. However, now I am more focused on what I need to achieve on a daily basis. Sad thing though is trying to explain social media to many people who do not get it. Now, that is frustrating!

Great post! ;)

Sometime in 2004, I hipped to the fact that something was blooming that might allow me to do things that'd been frustratingly out of my reach as a nonprofit web/communications guy. Dabbled here and there, reading blogs. Made the full commitment in 05, reading/participating in blogs -- scoble, kathy sierra, tara hunt, techcrunch etc. Started using del.icio.us. Read "Naked Conversations" in January 06, which left me with a conviction that I had my teeth firmly sunk into an outlook that changed everything. Started my own blog round same time. Haven't let up since.

Hmm, where did I start? It's all a matter of how you define "social media," as Colin and Nolan previously noted. Do I begin with my first blog, which I started in October 2003? Do I begin with Yahoo Groups/eGroups and the "modern" Usenet, which I started to use in 1998? Do I begin with the BBSes that I accessed with a 2400 bps modem back in 1991? Or do I go back to my college days, when our DEC PDP-11/70 at Reed could connect with other computers at Berkeley, Duke, and similar locations?

In terms of someone that I admired and followed and that changed my life most dramatically, I would have to nominate a BBS sysop named Starfish that I encountered in the early 1990s. I first found her on one board, then eventually joined her WWIV-based board. That's when I first learned that social media would be social. A lot of the BBS'ers would gather and play volleyball, drink cold brown thingies, or do whatever, with a fun time had by all. Of course, in the case of the BBS crowd, we all lived in the same area, so it was easy for us to, using a 21st century term, "meetup." Because our virtual connections are more likely to span geographical boundaries today (long distance phone charges are less of a concern), these opportunities are fewer and farther between. But there are still the occasional events (in my case, Oracle OpenWorld) where I can get together with others.

That's enough for now...

i wrote an advice column in college and used facebook and IM to get questions from students to answer each week. then the tipping point was finding alternative media > political blogs > my own blogs > myspace > linkedin > discovering rss > twitter > enlightenment....well, maybe not that last part, but the 'aha' moments i get from the smart people i keep track of are life-changing.

Almost three years ago, I discovered how easy it was to do a blog. I used blogger then & still do now (out of laziness, I guess).

As time went on, I discovered how easy and fun it was to make blogging friends all over the world.

Thanks, Chris, for your part in the pie!

My first online community: I used to follow the online journal of David Siegel, author of Creating Killer Web Sites, back in 1997. It would have been a blog, but there were no comments. Dave decided to start a listserv for anyone who wanted to discuss the topics he brought up in his journal, and that's became my first online community. The list is still going, though Dave left long ago, and I would call it my internet family of origin.

Since then:
Reading blogs
Writing blogs
Commenting on other blogs
Adding connections on LinkedIn that I'm not doing much with
Still not getting Facebook
Using Flickr but not really participating
Totally getting Twitter

Best advice: what noah said about Twitter, i.e. you have to stick with it and it will make sense. Or not.

I probably need to take that advice and give Facebook another try.

Chris:

I've always used the dive in approach too and highly recommend it ....

I would also recommend starting small with small experiments and gradually build.

My first experience into social media was a BBS for disability rights and support groups called Project Enable back in 1988 via fidonet. It reminds of Twitter - you could love on - and get "just in time" answers. Well, in those days, "just in time" was 1 day - because the packets would be distributed to other bbs. I was using the BBS to post questions or share resources to help with a local support group.

Then I discovered the Internet a couple years later - and was the community builder for Arts Wire - an online network for artists with unix-based text system called Caucus.
here's a description from an archived web page http://tinyurl.com/5f225j

At the same time I discovered places like the Well, ECHO (east coast hangout) and Meta Network (where arts wire has hosted). Those places were all about conversations - like what we're doing here in the comments.

Also at this time I discovered the gopher - remember the gopher? You could sit down with a beer in hand and literally visit every server on the web via Cern. I was self-described gopher mistress .. I organized the Arts Wire gopher - this is was about early aggregation!

My career as a gopher mistress was very short-lived because a guy in Switzerland and something called mosaic .. the question "world wide what?" was asked by many. Remember the blink tag?

I volunteered to be the Dance Cybrian -- sort of like a wiki on the cern server where anyone could volunteer to aggregate links in their field. I aggregated web sites for dance groups, dance companies, etc. In the beginning, mostly unix programmers who liked to clog dance - and come by and criticize my code.

I started Spiderschool - which was a link list I created on how to create web pages. Later, I used to summarize the wisdom that came out of the community discussion related to how artists and arts organizations can use the web ...
Later, as more and more people created web pages - I hand facilitated comments - my first crowd sourced piece was getting people to help me proof read my pages -
The Typo Police Page
http://www.bethkanter.org/spiderpolice/police.html
Note the blink tag!

In 1996, when the first digital cameras and web cams out - I got one. I used my webcam attached my laptop as my first digital camera to record photos from a conference that I was taking notes for - and then publishing as web pages .. ha live blogging and video blogging.

Also around that time, I discovered what would now be called sessmic or perhaps qik -- you could use your webcam and go "reflector surfing" - it was chat room with video. Here's a story from that era
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2006/10/a_co...


So, when blogging software came out - I was so excited because a) I didn't have hand code 2.) the conversations could happen right there on the post.

I blathered on too long - thanks for the trip down memory lane

My first steps in social media was writiing on walls 1980's

http://tinyurl.com/5l97dp

Technically, my first forays into social media would be the newsgroups at Carnegie Mellon University in the early '90's and later the user groups at AOL the year they started up. I started blogging at Live Journal in 2002 (still there) and started with Flickr in 2005 although I didn't get involved in the social aspects of Flickr until 2007. And I've been running my own online artist community first as a free bboard, and later as a business in which forums still play a large part, since 2001.

As to my foray into the tech blogosphere, it was all thanks to a book by Amy Jo Kim that I read around 2005. Through her I found Kathy Sierra, and through Kathy Sierra I found Tara Hunt, and through Tara Hunt I found the rest of my online world.

I started with social media or maybe what was just called simply "Web2.0" stuff back in Septemberish 2003. Really I started with blogging and moblogging.

I first used iBlog linked to .Mac for blogging and mobile photo blogging on textamerica. Both of these services are gone now, one cancelled, one doesn't exist anymore. I was an early adopter of MySpace etc.

I can't really point to any one person that inspired me to do this or guided me at that time. I was just figuring stuff out for myself and joining communities.

How did I get started? Like any of this, just do it and share your stuff.

Advice to new folks? Start a blog. Get on twitter. Do some mobile photo / video sharing. Say something. And soon enough you'll be plugged in. You'll attract people of interest.

What would I like to see? Hmm. More social media outreach or education or sharing, like this, to grow community and help people get plugged in. Lots of folks are still asking what is this? and how do I do it or get involved.

I started blogging a few years ago. I write about ninja's and vagina's and funny, horrible things that should get me hatemail. Guy Kawasaki got me to start twittering a few weeks ago and (as a joke I think) he put me on twitterati.alltop. Now I have lots of followers and no one knows why. It's like I'm my own practical joke.

Started a blog about creaetive marketing in association world; joined Facebook; joined LinkedIn; started a videoblog; first blog focused more on social media, innovation, strategic imagination. Became an early adopter for everything web 2.0 and 3.0

People I admired and followed early? That would be you, Chris my dear! And Jeff de Cagna, Ben Martin, Jamie Notter, Dave Sabol, Matt Baehr in the association blogosphere.

Just started with the blog and it quickly became part of me.

I'd tell someone starting to just jump in and try it. Learn by doing. Don't be scared.

In next few months - expand a new Facebook /LinkedIn group I started (YAP), beta test a hosted social network for my association, beta test lots of stuff for myself (Twine, BrightKite, etc), keep writing about how to beridge the gap between us early adopters and the association industry old guard, keep learning, keep conversing, keep meeting new people.

I a social media newbie, and began with Fbook to find a way to communicate with nieces and nephews, just last summer. Then an old mainstream media friend introduced me to LoicLeMeur and I began using Seesmic in early Nov07. It was then when I realized that Twitter was a Seesmic backchannel and that many Seesmates were conversing on Twitter as well, that I needed to create a Twitter account, which I did in early 2008. First I began following fellow Seesmates on Twitter like Pistachio, Documentally, philcampbell, deekdeekster, Purplecar, banannie, christinelu but on Twitter quickly discovered Hugh MacLeod, Dave Winer, Doc Searls, and Mr. Brogan and about 350 others so far.

So I've been in the social media world for less than a year, and it has been an eye opening experience, having come from an old media background (news and documentary producer) as I have. This experience has led me to a new universe of relationships I have only just begun to explore. My plan for the next few months for social media is to get to know my new social media universe offline because it enhances the experience online.

Best way to get in I'd say is Twitter and find a friend you already know to follow - follow some of the folks they follow and don't worry about what you say on Twitter. As Pistachio said at a recent nycpodcamp (I paraphrase), best way to be on Twitter is to be yourself.

Chris - I can't remember my first steps! It was that long ago... My advice for someone first starting out, definitely research the social sharing sites that make most sense to them individually instead of joining (and subsequently) abandoning a bunch until you decide which ones you like best. The work to develop both your online personality and what niche you are most interested in/know the most about so that you can contribute to the communities in which you belong. That is something I wish I could redo.

Hi Chris,

It's fabulous that your blog post here shows such interest in others. That's very generous and a great example that others (especially those new to social media) should immulate. I admire your knowledge and style greatly.

My first steps into social media were back in the spring of 1996 when I bought my first PC. I stumbled upon (no pun intended) the Virtual University. Classes were taught by volunteers. I proposed a class on teaching Netscape Navigator and included how to build home pages with it. This was actually before I knew much about it. I ended up with 1259 students in my first class and I learned what I needed to know (and then some) very fast.

It's difficult to remember the people I followed back then, but Jay Abraham was one, and later Seth Godin became a huge influence, still is.

The Virtual U activities included chat rooms and bulletin boards, mostly with my students. I became enthralled with the ability to interact in real time with people from all over the world. Since then, of course, social media has evolved exponentially and it's become the number one interest of my online life and business.

My advice would echo what some people have already said here -- you can't really relate to what's happening until you get involved. However, I think that learning about it comes first. Read about and observe it first, learn what is acceptable and what's not.

What I'll do with social media in the future is my favorite question here because I've just signed a contract to lead the web strategy for a corporation to include social media in a large way. It's almost the "Virtual-U-jump-in-and-just-do-it" excitement all over again. I have a lot to learn but my involvement at twitter, digg, stumbleupon, blogs and such is giving me a fast-start with my education.

For anyone hesitant to get involved in social media I say, put your fears aside, know that contribution is what is most important, and come join us!

With much respect,

Deb (mywebgal)

My first steps in social media? Since I consider IMs and IRC to be social media, I'd have to start there. If you're wondering about the "new" social media, then blogs and MySpace would have to come next (though, I've killed my MySpace account for security reasons - aka, spam).

The first blog I ever followed wasn't even a blog, per se, since the term hadn't been coined yet. Steve Jackson's Daily Illuminator has been running since November 1994, and may just be the longest running, consistently updated, "blog" on the internet. LINK: http://www.sjgames.com/ill/

I got started for work reasons - the need to keep in touch with business partners and potential clients. Most of the work I have gotten over the last decade came directly, or indirectly, from relationships I developed through social media.

My advice would be to realize that each social media tool can be used to support the rest. Don't look at them as individual entities, but as complimentary elements that (can) work together to make a powerful tool-box.

Over the next few months, I'll be working to streamline my online presence. I need to learn more about the newer SM tools, so that I can properly use them. The newer tools have a lot of potential, but only if used properly.

So it looks like I might be the first (perhaps only) person here who will state Yahoo 360 as their entry into social media. I'm not going to include listservs and vax vms systems from college years.

I started blogging at 360 because we were starting to investigate community features for IBM developerWorks. Figured an immersive experience would educate me the most.

So not counting email and IM, the journey was:

Yahoo 360
Sulekha (niche site for South Asians)
MySpace for my music stuff (hate the experience)
YouTube
Flickr

The latest is that I am brenny on twitter and I can see myself getting addicted very quickly.

Who do I read and follow?
Marc Andreeson
Chris Anderson
Jason Calakanis
Rohit Bhargava
Guy Kawasaki

Depending on what they are going to do my advice to newbies would be different.
To somebody who wants to become a web presence/celebrity I would say follow the winners (a few are listed above)

For those who are motivated by self expression I would recommend it highly. It can be cathartic and you'll be amazed at who you find.

What do I plan to do in the next 3 months?
I plan to grow my twitter network, establish an external work related blog, write more, and venture into rich media with some podcasts and video stuff (which I'm still pondering).

Great comments post. This feedback you got here constitutes a survey of sorts. Good stuff. Learned a lot.

my first steps in social media was to put up my blog. The problem I had with it, and why it slowed me down from becoming an expert at blogging was I outsourced it to an overseas company in the Phillipines. That was the wrong move because I never became fully engaged with my blog and my blog readers.

Since then I've built my podcast blog myself, plus a private members blog. So I'm catching up in that arena.

Then I put up a myspace page.

Then I put up a facebook page, plus linked in.

But it wasn't till Twitter that I really got hooked on social media.

Twitter, cause it's so fun and easy to do, got me more connected than facebook.

my advice to someone getting started is to start doing it, and not worry at first if you have subscribers or not. The process of doing helps you understand.

-Christina Hills
"The Shopping Cart Queen"

What were your first steps into social media?
A- Social media, isn't really just "the web"? Maybe I am simplifying to much? I like to refer to it as "the web" My first steps into the web was an HTML class in 1996. Had no clue what it was or what it meant. I was just a hockey playing jock looking for a bird course.

Fast forward to the year 2000, as I was playing hockey in Shreveport, LA, I didn't even know how to email or set up an email account. All I did was logon to my computer at my apartment, go on AOL (what was I thinking?) and then cruise around iWon.com. Do you remember iWon? You could win money for surfing and I think I recently read that iWon is trying to make a comeback. That was it... that is all I knew.

Who were your early people you admired and followed?
A- First individual that helped create awareness around this new web was Michael Arrington at TechCrunch

How did you get started?
A- My brother Adrian and I started a web development company in 2001 and we built our first web based product for hockey coaches. From there our company has evolved with the web to offer products and services to our customers.

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
A- "The web" is not a scary place and it is one of the easiest things to learn on your own. There are so many things you can practice with and try out, and nobody gets hurt. :-) So for all of those out there that think the web is to hard to figure out for their business or personal lives, I think I am proof in the pudding. All it takes is to go to one of the many free, social websites out there and sign up for an account and have fun. Who knows, you might even start your own web company.

Thanks Chris, your post convinced me to finally launch my blog. I’m so excited about getting started knowing that my digital real estate is going to grow and evolve the more I participate.

To answer your questions (if only I knew how to pingback).

What were your first steps into social media?
Likely Yahoo Groups and forums. More recently Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Who were your early people you admired and followed?
Chris Brogan, One Degree, Sean Moffitt., Chris Clarke, Beth Kanter and so many others

How did you get started?
In the past two years I have joined different networks and communities, spent lots of time lurking, and just started to get more involved. Actively participating in social media on behalf of clients has taught me so much in a very short time

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
There is no model and everyone does it differently. I am a strong believer that to to truly understand the power of social media marketing you have to do it.

What will you do in the next few months with social media?
I’m going to get more involved and learn by doing. I’m helping to organize a barcamp in a county with a creative rural economy (more details to come).

What were your first steps into social media?

I started blogging as a sophomore in high school around the year 2000 and didn't really keep up with it and wrote very sporadically. When I went to college my writing interests really increased and I realized I enjoyed and blogging gave me an easy way to publish my stuff. I am also in the age group that got Facebook first and that was a big eye opening time for me in experiencing social media. Now I Twitter, Digg, Blog, Facebook, Myspace everything and I like the blogosphere I am in with movies.

Who were your early people you admired and followed?

I didn't really have any. Didn't know of any major movie bloggers or I didn't pay attention. Recently as my blog has changed in the past 12 months, Geeks of Doom, the Movie Blog and SlashFilm have become major supporters and help to our site. Geeks of Doom are probably the best blog friends we could have.


How did you get started?

College, like I mentioned before this is when my movie blogging interests hit.

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?

Have fun! Do not make it work. Blogging is fun and the rest comes with it. You can learn a lot about social technology on the way that could help you in your job and how you interact with people.

What will you do in the next few months with social media?

Continue to see it involved and see how I can incorporate it into my site as well as my life.

I was a member of Task Force Delta at the Army War College in the late 70's... ( http://freespirits.chosenones.net/showthread.ph.... Bob Parnes (my hero) had a system we used called ConferNet. It worked better than a lot of messaging and social network platforms used now. 200 of us were on a think tank (connect fees $1000 USD a month paid for by Uncle Sam) and thermal print terminals (no screens) ...It was a blast and a lot of great ideas came out of it...

What were your first steps into social media?

Blogging, Podcasting, and MySpace.



Who were your early people you admired and followed?

Fellow music podcasters.



How did you get started?

Got a mixing board, a mic and Soundforge audio software to start podcasting. Created a MySpace page to promote the podcast(http://radio.speljamr.com). Just added one more social networking site to my list every so often. While not currently podcasting, I do remain active on social networking sites, especially twitter and Facebook.



If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?

Take baby steps and get a feel for each site/service. Not every social networking site will be what you are looking for. For example, I have little use for SecondLife, but make extensive use of twitter and Facebook.



What will you do in the next few months with social media?

Continue learning and eventually using it to promote some ventures I'm working on.

What will you do in the next few months with social media? My experience started back in high school where I first joined Friendster. Have a huge base of friends and connections from there and thus moved on to myspace, facebook and so on, all the way down to Twitter and the newer apps that are out now. I've evolved immensely throughout the years and have my peers and friends to thank for that.

The early people I followed were mainly close friends and people I met from school and socially. I did not have many admirers as my use for social networking at the time was strictly personal. Although, as I've grown now into social media, my admirers would have to be Jeremiah Owyang, Maki (doshdosh), Chris Brogan;) and Garyvee, to name a few. They each, in their own right, have given me much motivation and understanding of the social media world.

My advice - understand what and whom you're trying to target and get your hands dirty in all the different social mediums out. Within a few months, you'll realize which niches work best for you & your goals and continue to communicate and evolve those networks. This growth will eventually lead to you having a solid community of your own.

First Steps (outside my day job that is):
Went to Eric Rice's Podcast Roadshow in 2005 at Pike Place Market, the weekend after Gnomedex (the big podcast coming out party Gnomedex).

Early Podcasts I followed, Admired:
Todd Cochrane, Bre Pettis, Adam Curry, Local Seattle Podcasters (who are no longer podcasting).

How I got started:
Used a blog service (Live Spaces), it didn't support podcasts so I wrote the RSS in notepad and used Feedburner to enhance it. Just started doing it using freeware audio tools of the time and crappy Mic. Eventually started a wordpress blog.

Advice for newbies:
Stolen from Nike: Just do it. Don't research it forever - learn it by doing it. Go to meetups and social events where social media folks are hanging and sharing info. Make mistakes... make lots of them. I guess that's the same advice I'd give to log time veterans.

What will I do in the next few months:
Good question. Try to make more content. Do a little more video content. Experiment a bit with blog services, SEO, etc.

Chris,

Been using LinkedIn & Plaxo as networking tools for several years. Like most others mentioned, I've also been on various BBS, Compuserve, AOL, etc before blogging was a word.

Now I'm more involved as it's becoming more mainstream as the agency I work for, as well as my client, is finally starting to take social media seriously as a marketing platform.

We recently have been reaching out to bloggers for various campaigns. Additionally, we've been attempting to reach out to folks in various large and niche social networks through widgets, applications, social ads and product pages/brand channels on sites that offer them.

Personally, I've been micro-blogging for some time and just started blogging - and have been trying to get my name out there as a knowledgeable person in the space. I'm also considering starting to do a webcast through BlogTalk Radio. I met Alan (CEO) at PodCamp NYC and was very impressed with their system.

I've been following you, CC Chapman, Joe Jaffe, Greg Verdino, Ann Marie Mathis and have diligently been sniffing around for good info using Hashtags, RSS and any other source I can find... There's just so much info out there to look at - some good, some not so good.

Thanks for taking the time to ask about others experience in the social media space. Great to see what everyone is doing.

What were your first steps into social media?
- University e-mail and bulletin boards, supplanted by a zillion AOL "50 Hours Free!" discs back in late 1996. The best, and certainly the one that captured the most of my imagination, was Derek Powazek's seminal fray.com.

Who were your early people you admired and followed?
Rebecca Blood, Adam Curry, Jeffrey Zeldman, and the aforementioned Derek.

How did you get started?
- In the business, I started at Disney, as a lowly production coordinator for the Disney Channel new media group. Since then, I've done a ton of time in interactive ad agencies, then spent a happy year and a half at Revver, and am now at Social Project. *waves at Mr. Knell above*

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
Don't force it. Let it grow. And, as Dr. Robert Sutton so eloquently put it, don't be an asshole. In a business built on reputation and trust, being an asshole might work for a select few big names, but for the rest of us, it's career death.

What will you do in the next few months with social media?
Use it! Evangelize it! Help build a product that people love and use, too.

My First Social Experience:
I got my start with LinkedIn like many people I am sure. I looked at it as a great way to stay connected with friends and colleagues.

Who I Followed at the Outset:
I have been very lucky to have a great friend and mentor in Ian Karnell of One To One Interactive. In many cases I have followed his lead. More recently I have followed Aaron Strout of Mzinga and Pete Caputa of PC4Media.

How I Got Started:
I started becoming active with a podcast for a financial advisory firm, Course Pilot Financial. My interest has lead me to start a second firm, Next Level Executives which is helping business people integrate their offline and online networking efforts.

Advice for Newbies:
Find some networking buddies and agree to work it together. It is super easy to get discouraged if you feel no one is listening or reading your posts.

What is My Next Level:
I am building a robust network to help people promote and grow their small businesses via offline social events and online community. I am hoping to learn for the thought leaders in the field on how to best serve the growing ranks of solo-preneurs adopt social media.

I am a relative newcomer to social media. I started blogging last year in May. Earlier in the year I signed up on LinkedIn and Twitter. I have enjoyed it immensely but still feel like I have so much to learn.

I encourage as many business professionals as I can to join LinkedIn. I especially do this is I learn they have had the same job for 4+ years. The way to get a job is so much different now than it was just a few years ago. Nobody uses paper resumes anymore. LinkedIn is one of the best tools to keep your resume up to date, to have live references, and to build a professional network.

I don't really remember how I got started in Social Media. Probably my first foray was on a listserv called Solosez. Then I started to get invitations to various social media. Then I started commenting on blogs and decided to start my own to further my business http://buildasolopractice.com

Through the community I established I began to participate on LinkedIn, Facebook. I eventually started to enjoy Facebook. But then I discovered Twitter and it's my favorite.

More importantly, after becoming a self-study student on social media, education, professional networking and building community these past two years, I have decided to take what I do professionally and create my own social media network for law students and lawyers and am constructing Solo Practice University. The construction blog can be visited at:

http://solopracticeuniversity.tumblr.com

and it lets those who are interested track the progress while explaining the philosophy and what those who 'attend' can expect from participating in this new educational and professional networking forum.

Thanks for asking this great question.

I started my social network experience on my school's forum. As soon as I knew I would study there, I posted on the forum in order to try to meet people since that school was in the opposite part of France and thus I didn't know anybody there.
Then I created a personal profile on Myspace, then a music profile. Myspace had really been a good start and tought me to like html/css. A few months later I discovered Virb which will probably always be my favourite social network (Twitter excepted) as its interface is very clean, simple, user-friendly.
Almost a year ago I've been hired by a company based in Boston to manage their social network, so social-networking surrounds me all day long. From Myspace to Flickr via Virb, VynilPulse or thisnext, we almost use them all. Coming to the US also allowed me to discover Twitter which is probably the best concept ever... I also extended my personal social network to Tumblr, Weheartit, Linkedin, Pownce and Brightkite. I have to say that the social media world is getting better and better as it gets simpler. Although, he "dark side of the moon" lies in the fact that with more and more social networks / communities coming into the world, we are more than ever part of the "immediate consumption". I mean, for example, I signed up for more than 10 new concepts in the past few months! This may explain why lots of these new "social networks" don't want to be considered as such...
Hence an advice I could give to someone starting out would be to get an aggregator (such as socialthing for example)! It becomes difficult to pay the same attention to all the social networks one could sign up for!

Anyway, I now work on an interactive audioblog based on the micro-blogging concept. So this is what I am going to do in the next few months with social media. (By the way if anyone would like to help...).

I guess one could say that I enjoy the experience :)

Hello

Let me start with, that i never started with any blog then or now to be into Social Media.

I have always combined social Media thru Networking site be it busiess Networking site ( initially like Linkedin, Xing Ryze or Ecademy )or later joined popular sites like Mysace,Orkut, Facebook Twitter or many more to understand the network & social media better.

Also getting popular i India these days is various Barcamps across the country.

Many Internet- Savvy Indians are now finding a business Partners or landing Business deals thru all the above so called social media. Infact Barcamps are getting popular,be it for small-time enterprenure or a top CEO.

Well, as for my personal experinces, thanks to these sites, me & the Company (Pinstorm.com) found clients as well as employees.It also gets ecoomical to hire thru these sites since it reduces cost ad you get someone you ca Trust.

These sites are getting hugely popular i India, thou its already popular iternationally.In nutshell, its a new age
way of doing business. Its faster, there are more choices
avilable and its economical.

My first steps into social media was LinkedIn. I was invited to join in 2004 so I did but let it languish for a bit. Then I realized I had to start blogging so I created my first blog for B2B marketing in January 2007 and my second in January 2008 for small business marketing and personal branding.

Getting into social media was not a conscious effort of “I think I’ll get into social media” but one of survival as a marketing coach & consultant. I believe my early educators were CC Chapman, Joseph Jaffee, Mike Sansone, Drew McLennan and started listening to Marketing Voices podcast with Jennifer Jones which led me to Jeremiah Owyang. Of course, they pointed to numerous others and the rest, they say is history.

My advice is: 1. start with a blog, read other blogs, comment on other blogs intelligently and learn the culture; 2. Create your profiles completely on LinkedIn and Facebook (including a real picture of you as it makes you human). 3. Investigate Twitter, start following those within your domain expertise and add value to the conversation. These will help form relationships. 4. Keep an eye out for those social networks that benefit the business you are in as not all will be appropriate for you. 5. The more involved you are, the more value you will see from your efforts.

I’m now experimenting with audio and video to understand how to best use it for my business and to also help clients understand the value for theirs. Although I'm constantly learning about social media and its use for marketing, I like to try things for myself to learn them.

Great post Chris!

I hate to say this.. but guy kawasaki when he came out with that email app waaaaaay back in the day, i think he was the first person even on twitter that i sought out and "friended"

but i've always had a blog of some sort... first just updated html, then various platforms.. including ones that shouldn't be used for blog platforms ever(i.e. nuke-php)..

Interesting post and comments! I'll have to tell my story a bit later due to massive storms, but I *will* be back!

What were your first steps into social media?

- I have a hard time defining that... yes, I was BBSing back in the 80's, on Usenet in the 90's, blogging & on livejournal in the 00's... but I didn't really identify what I was doing as "social media" until I started spending a lot of time on Twitter.
It's kind of weird, in that I was doing all of those things but never perceived them as anything other than 'playing on the internet.'

Who were your early people you admired and followed?

I've always been horrible about that. I'm too scattered to regularly read blogs. Partly, the reason I spent 7 years on Live Journal was that it's "Friends List" enabled me not to have to think hard about that, or set up RSS feeds or anything.

As for those who I admired & followed on Twitter, that's a different story...
Firstly, Jeremiah Owyang @jowyang - without whom I doubt I'd have stuck around twitter long enough to see it's beauty. After that, @susanreynolds, you, @pistachio, @scobleizer @shelisrael @queenofspain - I could go on a long time.

How did you get started?

I'm still not sure I am "started" - because I don't really know that I've found my footing anywhere outside of twitter.

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?

I wouldn't say just jump in... I'd say read a bit first - see who you like, then figure out why you like what they're doing. Are they specializing? Are they interactive? Are they using multiple services or just one?
Find what appeals to you first, then pursue it.

What will you do in the next few months with social media?

Now that's the big question, isn't it? I'm still trying to answer that for myself.

i started my first blog on aol homepage. picking up html was easy. i created the blog mostly to write about my life, so my then boyfriend in germany could keep up-to-date with my life and pregnancy without having to call all the time. it didn't take long till i had strangers writing to me telling me they enjoyed my page. so i would wrtie back and ask how they found me, how often they read, etc. which we can now have stats for. at the time, there was also a great avatar world like secondlife, but nobody seems to remember it. i think it was called tikki island. i used to meet my boyfriend on there and we could chat and actually talk to each other with audio back then. chat rooms were also still the big way to connect with people back then, whether is was on some yahoo game or even on oprah's site. i have come a long way since then, but now wish i had gotten more involved on building social media services. but i didn't begin working in this area so strongly till last year. my present blog is over 5 years old now, but i rarely write anymore. i now tend to keep things to staying connected and writing in little bursts. yay for micromedia like twitter and pownce. i especially love to follow the people i know in this field. and it still amazes me who i know. such wonderfully talented people.
in the next few months, i will be concentrating a lot on lifestreaming, since this is the new focus of my job, but i hope to more effort into my blog again, including audio and video, and a lot more love.
i try to suggest the right services to people for their needs.

great questions and awesome answers from everyone.
good stuff.

:-)

I suppose Facebook was my first foray into social media, but my true first jump was Twitter just shy of a year ago. I'm still not sure I "get" social media, but I'm starting to understand its value proposition, raison d'être, etc. Building relationships with "internet friends" has been interesting, and has since gotten me interested in light blogging through Utterz and a personal blog I started a few months ago.

Great question!

My first steps would have been around 1999/2000 when I was encouraging clients to allow their guests (in tourism based businesses) to upload photos from vacations spent at their resorts directly to the resort's web site. That was quite early to suggest such a thing and every resort I helped get that started still does it today.

I started my 1st blog in 2003. I LOVED the immediate, non-formal method of communication it allowed and started encouraging clients to blog about their own organizations as well.

My biggest social media project has been launching showmeyours.tv, which is MuchMusic's social media site.

To this day, I integrate some type of social media (whether it be blog comments, photos or videos) into all of the shows I work on.

I started my first blog in 2004, when I was told I should document my kids' asthma attacks. At that point, Steve Rubel and Debbie Weil were definitely my inspirations.

I have to say, though, that my first pre-blog social media forays involved Firefly and Tripod, as well as the forums on BowieNet...that was back in 1995 or so. They may not "count" but they were definitely online communities, and I made of lot of friends on those sites with whom I communicated via (non-integrated) IM and (Integrated) email. Not *so* far off from where we are today....

I suppose I first started in social networking 10 years ago with AOL im as a way fo keeping in touch with friends and family around the world. Then it sorted of drifted as we all moved onto different platforms and isps so email became the rage.

4 years ago I joined Ecademy and LinkedIn, didn't do much on either for 9 months and finally decided to make a concentrated effort at it, to good business effect, especially on LinkedIn. I started my first blog (http://oncochat.typepad.com) and used it as a showcase for my consulting work in the biotechnology field. I now have several other fledgling blogs to share interesting information with others in the industry. They don't comment much, but they do send me emails and ask questions.

Last year I played around on Facebook; it's useful for keeping in touch with those old im friends and buddies, except we now chat over Scrabble. The thing I liked most about it (other than the Scrabble) was the news status feeds about what people are doing and where they are; you get snapshots of their lives over time. It makes me feel more inter-connected in the busy hurly-burly of life.

Last month I signed up to Twitter and Friendfeed, Google Reader, Twhirl, Alert Thingy, Seesmic etc and suddenly, the world of technology and communication becomes more alive, more real and more rich. I've followed tweets, pictures, even Robert Scoble's qik video live from Yosemite, which was absolutely fascinating... I wanted to be there but seeing it streaming on video on my iMac screen was just awesome.

Now, I follow @scoble, @techcrunch, @laughingsquid, @pistachio, @sciencedaily, you and a few others. The immediacy of it, in real time, right now, is fascinating and in many ways, more interesting than the 2D forum formats of other sites. There aren't that many commentators in the medical and science field but these are early days yet.

...first steps: Just reading as much as possible - about different strategies & styles, but also just reading a lot of individual blogs. After a while you just start to identify with those that "get it" & those who don't...

I started off following Jeffrey Gitomer & Seth Godin - still do...

Got started by diving head-first and launching a blog for our company...then just kept the momentum going by adding valuable (relative term) content to the regulars: BlogCatalog, Digg, Delicious, Twitter, Technorati, etc..

The best advice is to be sure this is what you love - the rest comes easy b/c it'll take time & patience. Whatever you're content is, become the best authority on that content.

Next up for my efforts - more video & more tweets. And more fun.

Sometime around 1997 I was working for the Kauffman Fellows Program at the Kauffman Foundation...it's a fellowship in the venture capital industry. They were recruiting by doing a big roadshow visiting business school campuses around the country and they were actively trying to recruit more qualified women to the program.
I did some research online and found WITI...Women in Technology International. They had a listserve for the members. I did some research and then sent them a message about the program and got some fantastic response. Only about 10-12 Fellows are chosen each year, and that year one of them came from that WITI communication and follow up.
Ever since them I've been motivated by the combination of human networks and technology to help bring people together in mutually beneficial ways.
Now I participate in several social media activities. In particular, I'm a Twitter addict.

My first foray into social networking was CollegeClub (I can't believe I remember that - or the fact that it's still around)... I dabbled but didn't really take it seriously until I really got into my last job here in Birmingham and was allowed to take part in the active social scene in town.

I started <a href="http://dresramblings.com"Dre's Ramblings (now in the process of finally being built as a self hosted site) in early 2005 as a way to keep in touch with friends outside of town to let them know what was going on in my life. I also did it because someone told me that all I did was ramble to hear myself speak - so I wanted to make sure I had somewhere that the conversation could actually be had.

I eventually picked up a MySpace and Friendster profile to do the same thing - encourage a conversation with friends and potential new ones. I was barely reading blogs at the time and really just found social networks interesting and intriguing because of a class I took when I first returned to college. The conversation in that class revolved around the city square (public space) and its future. Everything I've done online since I've started writing has revolved around the interest of how technology and social networking could strengthen existing relationships and encourage more interaction of people.

My blog began to focus more on the issues affecting the city I currently live in (Birmingham, AL), leading me to put the Ramblings in a state of suspended animation while I started The Terminal in 2007. I used sites like Gothamist, Pegasus News and Gapers Block as references with the hope of driving a conversation in a community that desperately needed it to occur. I felt this way as a result of my interaction with people during my days as a Main Street coordinator in town (2 1/2 years).

The results have been interesting. I've expanded my comfort zone with behind the scenes technology and try to use new tools whenever possible to continue to expand that conversation (most recently Twitter and Facebook). I'm also organizing a WordCamp in Birmingham for late September this year so that users in the Southeastern U.S. can get connected without feeling the need to travel, strengthening the physical social interaction that social media and networking encourages.

I'd tell people that they need to be comfortable with what they write and not to force it. They need to enjoy doing it and to not be afraid if their focus changes. Most of what we do is common sense, even if most people don't think so.

I've restarted the Ramblings, going back to its original purpose (especially since I've been able to make so many friends through this chance to write whenever I want to). I'm hoping to take The Terminal to the next level, taking advantage of all of the latest tricks out their to engage more people into conversations about social issues that must be dealt with as Birmingham awakes from a slumber with so many exciting projects. I'm also wanting to demonstrate just how powerful a tool social media can be for economic development as we need to get people to dream big and do even more to make those dreams a reality.

I was first intrigued by social networking in 1979 when I was at a Unitarian-Universalist summer camp on Star Island in the middle of Cass Lake in Minnesota. Our discussion topic for the week was futurism, and since it was a very rainy week, people stayed inside the lodge to hear our speakers who told of as such things as modems and "chats" and zwicky boxes and the wonderful book "Network Nation" and EIES . Wow! I was working as a county librarian in Nebraska, and it was a taste of things to come. Of course, we were also told that dolphins would be in the U.N. by now, but I'll settle for what we did get. I patiently waiting through 1200 baud transmission to send manuscripts across the country and thought that was great. As soon as I could get email, I had it and joined mailing lists to my hearts content. One small group, that we started 10 years ago, is still in close contact. A yahoo group that I set up for my church in Missouri about that same time is still functioning. (I moved to Florida 5 years ago.) And now I am seeing some of those folks show up on my Facebook friends. We've come a long way.

...first steps into social media? Had a vague understanding, then heard a presentation by Geoff Livingston on integrating social media into communications plans. Read his book (Now Is Gone) and have been totally geek-ing out on SM ever since

...early people you admired and followed? Geoff Livingston, Kami Huyse, Lauren Vargas, Brian Solis, Giovanni Gallucci, and others

...get started? Started with social networking sites MySpace then graduated to Facebook. I put some ideas to work in my first blog. Presented a Social Media for school districts for some fellow school PR professionals

...advice? jump in, the water's fine

...next few months with social media? I've been asked to give a Social Media for Newbies presentation for Fort Worth PRSA. Things are looking good so far. I am excited to see where this goes.

My first steps into social media included a Diaryland blog that I still occasionally hop back into for my performance art persona 'SiNuS BRaDy' { sinusbrady.com }. Diaryland actually helped me develop the character and amass a vast array of random semi-comedic and surreal material to work from for my 'Stand Up | no comedy' act as it has come to be known on a variety of levels. I also started up a LiveJournal blog for my personal site that runs somewhere between personal and professional { loususi.livejournal.com }. Interstingly enough, I keep the 'real' LJ blog semi-buried on my loususi.com website { you have to go to news and then look 2 or 3 links down on my site to get it without Googling me }. The blog for my fictional alterego has always been out in the open for any and all to see. I've been moving in the opposite direction lately. Might be better for me, right?

People I admired and followed earlier in my social media ventures most likely were people like rosS Hamlin, Seth Godin, Ze Frank and organizations like Mobius, iKatun and Art Interactive. I'm typically steeped in that interesting cyberSpace between professional design + media vs art, new media + performative alterreality. And so my inspirations tend to show a dichotomy, or at least an interesting juxtaposition ...

I got started right around 1999. Nope, I take that back. I think it was more like 1996. I had a BA in Art. A few years in retail, paiting by nite, living in my parents' basement ... the realization came to me that perhaps further schooling might be necessary to move forward. I went back to UMass Lowell to pursue a certificate in 'Multimedia Applications'. Multimedia applications = CD-rom production. I immediately got a gig at CNC, started freelancing almost from day 1 wherever possible. After a couple years at CNC I worked for a place called virtualFactory that is unfortunately probably still around. virtualFactory should be more aptly called 'fFactory' ... ya know? But anyhow ... in 1999 my wife and I founded 'BijaXOuS' ... horrible name for a company, right? You can't spell it. Most people can't even pronounce it. But a zine still resides where the designhaus used to be. And now, 'BXOS' is the company name. I might change it to 'Most Wanted Consultants' ... a bit presumptuous, I know, but at least you can remember it and you don't have to ask 'what does BXOS stand for?' or I wouldn't get people hitting up boxes.com by mistake.

Advice I would give to those starting out: Use your name for your domain name, at least for one version of your online social media life. Stay social in offline circuits too. Make friends. Manage your time wisely. Be careful what you promise to which person and when. Do work in what you love.

My next few months with social media includes more bloggings, hopefully more vloggings for my SB alterego, I would love to delve into podcasting { I co-hosted 'Tears of the Gods' at WMFO recently and loved my collaborations w/ Edward Beuchert }, more Social Media Breakfastings { perhaps a 'North' version of this same event at The Friendly Toast or somewhere up on the North Shore }, more social media networking on the music and performance side of life ... we'll see ... there are SO many options. Aight ... back to Ninginging ;]

First steps? I started out by listening to podcasts, and then deciding that was a great way to get my own message across. Then after just about three months into actually putting a show out there, I attended this event called Podcamp Boston, which has totally changed my life as I know it.

Who were your early people you admired and followed? I had listened to Mommycast and CC Chapman's Accident Hash, and after meeting CC at Podcamp,the connection between online and offline became more real. From Podcamp Boston, I met a ton of people, including Chris Brogan, Chris Penn, Mark Blevis, Larry Lawfer, Julien Smith, Eric Skiff, CC Chapman, Dave LaMorte, Jay Moonah, John Havens, Mitch Joel, Rob & Megin Hatch, Drew Olanoff, Adam Plante and the Best Damn Tech Show guys, and others, that gave me not only a core of people who still are part of my internet family, who have in turn expanded my horizons to other people I've met online and off, creating really great friendships, including Linda Mills, Chel Wolverton, Matthew Ebel, Todd & Sage Tyrtle, Bob & Cat Goyetche, Dave Beaudolin, Tammy Munson, Joel Mark Witt, Andycaster, Vivian Vasquez, and more. Each podcamp I attend expands my network more so than any other online presence in a meaningful way. Other social networks like facebook, twitter, etc. have merely become ways to keep in contact and extend that in person meeting to a gradual way to really get to know people and what happens in their lives.


If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them? You can start by getting your feet wet on any number of social networking sites, but taking the time and effort to attend an event like Podcamp, especially with the fact that Podcamp attracts not only people creating new media, but PR and marketing types looking for different ways to get the message out, this is a perfect way to get the lay of the land and meet people that can truly transform what you do and how you think about new media.

What will you do in the next few months with social media? More blogging, podcasting and Podcamps are in my future, and hopefully we'll get the book about Community building and unconferences finished.

Chris,

Wow am I late to the party!

First steps:
1. I showed my Mom how to use AOL forums back in 1995, so she could "get connected" and talk to folks with interests like hers. Then I married somebody I met chatting to demonstrate how it all worked. Neither one worked out. It took six months to see my Mom would never use AOL forums, but nearly 10 years to get rid of the other. :)

All along, I was a huge participant in genealogy forums, something I guess I never talk about in my business life. Genealogy is a pretty consuming "hobby," and forums can turn up some good help. Mostly I gave the help, because I'm pretty far along in my work, but sometimes received, too.

More recently, first steps into business social media were to find and follow some published authors I admired, starting about a year ago, I guess. I was surprised to find that offline authors were blogging, and even more surprised to find how huge the world of blogs was (is). From the outside, it seemed like such a small world!

2. Early people: Keith Ferrazzi's might have been the first blog I subscribed to. I can't remember anymore but he was close. Seth Godin and Jakob Nielsen were early, too. The very first blog I ever looked at is called My Mom's Blog by Thoroughly Modern Millie (it was set up by her kid). She's 82 and it is well worth a quick peek. I read about her in a newspaper, I think, and decided to check her out. I still look in once in a while, and I keep her bookmarked to remind me that anyone can "do" this blog thing that once seemed beyond me! She rocks!

3. Beginning: Lurking, subscribing, commenting, commenting more, realizing I had more to say than even my crazy-long comments can hold, writing on paper to test whether I really did have all that much to say, then finally committing to my own blog. I run a full time business, and though I enjoy hearing about the various other social media out there, I don't do twitter, Facebook, or any other. I know I couldn't do them justice and if there's one thing I believe in in social media, you get out what you put into it. Even if I had four more hours in my day, I'd rather spend them with my daughter than commit to more social networking.

4. I did a whole post on this recently when I got a piece of "fan mail" that just made me glow. Advice:

Comment a lot first, make sure you have something to say for the long haul, find your own unique niche (don't write about what everyone else is writing about: I could write about writing all day but it's being done! Writing about Experience Design is [nearly] all mine), and BE YOURSELF. I said this in the post I wrote: pretend you're at a cocktail party. See the person you're writing to in front of you, and talk to that person on paper.

5. Upcoming: Vast amounts of really cool stuff including an awesome Interview Series are coming up at the blog. I wish I could tell you that I'm going to add in six other social media, but I'm not. I will continue to follow Chris Brogan, and marvel at your immense reserves of energy to do it all. I'm going to try to be really good at what I do, so people know they can trust me as a resource for the long haul. Experience Designer by day, then like Superman into a booth, and trusted blogger in every spare moment.

In spite of being late to the party, I had a blast. Thanks for the invite!

Regards,

Kelly

I'm super-new to the whole social media malarky. I started this weekend after for some reason resisting it for the last year or so. I'm really liking it so far though, although all the various websites and networks can be daunting to manage, but I guess that will become easier.

I'm currently using MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, MyBlogLog, Digg, etc.. and so far it seems to be an interesting dynamic, not entirely sure how to really go about it all but I guess thats part of the fun.

I'm pretty much where Colin is. I've been on MySpace since 2006 (or 2005?). On Facebook for about a year now. I found Twitter last fall, but didn't start using it really until January. That's when PurpleCar found me and introduced me to Utterz nd Seesmic - and got me hooked on the broader "social thing". Am still very much paddle-wheeling my way around.

My first experience with social media was obviously the god ok chattooms of the late 90s. Of course my first social media site was friendster. I was clueless. Never logged on much or really understood that it was bout friendships and all kinds of things. I never went back. I was into Everquest and RPG gaming which was my main source pf social media. It took building my business to consider using those tools and it came about naturally for me.

I would say to a newbie that easing into what's interesting for you, works with your goals and target audience, should this be a buisiness thing, is the best. Don't use everything just because evryone else is. Not eerything is worth it or will work for you. Don't depend onhaving flashy pages or trying to represent yourself exactly how others do. Be yourself!!!!!!!! That's what makes this so much fun.

wow. alot of your readers have a lot to say and discuss great reader base. I wish i had that many commenters! Anyways my first step in was with my blog! I have many other social media link ups too now! my first admirer was john chow, when i saw him on call for help he really made me want jump and start the blog! I started up last summer and continued ever since! :)

I've had one email address since 1988 (which I still have) that got me into a bulliten board chat room. I guess that was my 'first' social media, but I didn't know it of course back then. I've been signed up on Facebook,Myspace, LinkedIn etc etc for a while now, but didn't do anything with them.
Two weeks ago I signed up for Twitter, which led me to having a conversation with @joannayoung and her trip to SOBCon08. Which led me to register 6 short days ago, which led me to you, and then, your blog.
A nice circle.
Social Media at it's best.

Chris,

My first step was writing a blog. I also started a second blog. I guess I remain at my "first step" level.

I did participate in the USENET before it got spammed all the way to hell. Is that social media?

Cheers
Marco

My first foray into social media was following Seth Godin and Dosh Dosh. Late last year, I was inspired to begin my own blog, The Wearable Art Blog. The biggest challenge I've had is to find the 'right' online community - I'm hoping this blog will be a good one for me. I'm also looking for communities in the wearable art world to help build contacts for my blog. I've tried Twitter. When I set up my Twitter page, I used a picture of a model in a skimpy top to represent me, which generated an email from 'Burt Reynolds' with Burt in a practically naked pose! Oh well, I'm learning!

I always considered myself computer savvy, but I graduated college JUST before the Web boom (1994), and am still VERY scared of HTML & therefore MySpace, but I'm working on it!!!

My first step into social networking was my husband bugging me to sign up for Facebook (September 2007 - late in the game, I know). Finally, in March 2008, I started actually using it (rather than him checking me in every few weeks). I have reconnected with friends from high school and with some former colleagues as well.
Well, actually YEARS ago, one of my friends had me try Friendster, but I just didn't "get" it & it lapsed very quickly.
THEN, I Googled a voice competition that I was doing and I ran across The Collaborative Piano Blog on, of all days, April Fools Day & LOVED their sense of humor and committment to the art. Through them, I found chrisbrogan.com!!! Between that inspiration, and a recent article in Classical Singer Magazine, I've started using MySpace (and I've written ONE blog post so far - more are planned) and am just staying in touch a little more. I've always been an avid emailer, but.... One of my colleagues used Google Calendars to invite lots of people to her recent voice recital and I thought "THAT's COOL!!" So, I'm excited, but still VERY much a newbie. Thanks for your blog! It really encourages me that I CAN do it. I'm thinking about trying out Twitter, but don't really know if there's anyone that I would talk to. Does it matter if I know anyone on Twitter already, or so I just jump in??

I'd say my first steps were with AIM, and a group of friends who all got really into LiveJournal in middle school.
More recently I've set up a blog, gotten a bit involved on twitter, and decked out my feed reader with great brain candy.

My interest really has spike since reconnecting with Tamar Weinberg who I knew in high school. Also was inspired by Beth Kanter and Michelle Martin early on.

I feel like I've just started to graze the surface and I'm always finding new interesting conversations. My advice would be not to be afraid to reach out and get in touch with people, be generous, and always remember that time is precious and you don't own anyone else's!

I hope this month to get more involved in conversations, use twitter more regularly, and try to develop writing every day as a habit.

Let's see... I was a big IRC addict in the early to mid 90's...

Seriously, advice for getting into social media? My advice is not to try to be anything but yourself. Do what you like to do. Talk about what you are passionate about in any and all outlets for that passion and enjoy. Any given platform (facebook, twitter, tribe, livejournal, whatever...) may or may not be the right one for you at any given moment. Don't freak out about whether you are in the "right" place. If you are getting what you want out of it, then it's right. If not, then not. The good news is that you don't have to have monogamous relationships with your social media platforms. Pick and choose the things that you want out of as many applications as you see fit. So your friends aren't in every single one of those locations? So what?!

Just chillax and enjoy it.

Book reviews and a favorites list with Amazon.com and an account with classmates. com back in 1998 were my first ventures into social sites.

Been a rocky ride since. My blog is long gone. Why? I am not a writer and I will not just rehash all the other great blogs out there. Besides, I love the numbers & the analysis more. True, marketing geek, you could say.

Right now, I am enjoying the new feed reader options such as FriendFeed and Twitter. I believe these sites are teaching the ordinary person about RSS. That's powerful to me.

Peace!

In the early 90s, I started using AIM and ICQ.

In late 90s, I was part of starting a design community called New Element. We primarily communicated through ICQ and IRC.

My use of today's definition of social networks started in 2002 with Friendster. Then from Friendster started joining other sites such as, myspace, Blogger, flickr, last.fm, threadless, Pownce, facebook and virb. I'm more active with photography and music related sites.

I really like what virb is doing with their site, but unfortunately I don't have as much time as I'd like to participate. Them seem to take the good music aspect of myspace and make the design soooo much better.

On the topic of music, I came across this site recently: http://www.muxtape.com It isn't very social in the traditional sense, but I feel like it is social in the sense that you're still sharing music you are into with complete strangers. Being a musician and a eclectic music lover, I think you can tell a lot about a person from their music tastes.

As for what I would like to see more of in the future...definitely more music centric sites. I also feel like the lines of content management and social networks are being blurred more and more.