The Power of Giving

"The Power of Giving, by Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon, is an international bestselling book about how giving can dramatically improve your life. It's packed with inspiring stories and wonderful advice to give your life more meaning."

http://www.thepowerofgiving.org
http://www.thepowerofgiving.org/blog
http://twitter.com/givingbook

When Size Matters

There are many moments when size matters. Like when you go to put on a favorite outfit and it no longer fits. The frustration, the disappointment, the self loathing.

Or you stumble upon a fabulous sale, one of a kind, the very last one~~> oops wrong size. Better luck next time.

Size matters when you are the smallest kid in the class and bullied by the 'big' kids. Size matters in travel, a lot. Just try exceeding the weight limit on luggage and what that will cost you.

Size matters when you order a pizza. Better have enough to go around or it could get ugly.

Size counts in relation to your bank account. Bigger is certainly better.

"Super Sizing" became an instant hit until we realized that there was a down side to having fries with that.

All this thinking about size and numbers came as a result of meeting Chris Brogan at IzeaFest. Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs. He's a speaker, a blogger and the co-author of Trust Agents, with Julien Smith.

Chris Brogan was not what I expected. I expected aloof, hurried and someone more preoccupied with his iphone than the people in the room. I couldn't have been more wrong. Chris was truly engaging, very kind. And funny. I had no idea what a quick wit and great sense of humor he had. He was also very insightful. "Be self aware, not self involved" he said. Having over 100,000 Twitter followers could certainly have gone to his head, but it didn't. I watched closely as he spoke with everyone who approached him. He was in the moment, gave each conversation 100% of his focus. Lesson learned "Don't Judge a Tweeter by his Numbers"

Having "followers" can give you a false sense of self importance at times. Yes, I'm speaking from my own misguided sense of self importance and the value I was beholding to the "number" of Twitter Followers I had. Barely 6,000 pairs of ears in my Twitter stream, but the largest audience I had ever had! But was it enough? What could I do, should I do to grow these "followers" in number. Would the nonsense I spew be of more value if 10,000 or even 100,000 'followers" read it? Then, thinking back to Chris Brogan, it clicked.

It's not the Number of Followers that you have but, the SIZE of your connection. It's about building meaningful relationships. Do I need 10,000 @McMedia devotees to connect? Surely not. I should however, nurture the followers I have. I want a BIG connection. I want to meet the people I tweet with. I want to KNOW them. I care. I want them to know I care. I genuinely like people.

I was standing in the crowd at Izeafest and looked up to hear "Are you @McMedia?" "Hi, I'm DJ Edgerton, @wiltonbound" .... DJ went on to say I was one of he first people to connect with him when he started on Twitter and how much he appreciated it. I was humbled and almost felt shame. Had I even earned his gratitude? It made me realize that how you interact through social media, does matter. It was a BIG reminder that we are talking to real people, commenting on real topics, dealing in real life situations. Be nice, be kind, be thoughtful. Be a friend, gain a follower, build a relationship. Our tweets are the foundation of our relationships in SM or IRL.