Building Relationships With Social Media Tools

editing the videoblog in DC coffee shop

It’s taken a trip to Crawford, Texas for me to find the time reflect on the tremendous response to the blogging, Twittering, and video blogging I did from my round-the-world trip with the Secretary of Defense. It was an endeavor that I can describe, with certain resignation, as Rosenblum-esqe, as I managed to do my network pool camera crew thing AND a sidebar videoblog. MSNBC.com ran my videoblog as a two-part series. Part one took us from DC to Singapore, and in Part two, we visited Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and France. Must-read TV industry blogs, TV Newser and Fishbowl DC both ran very nice posts on my efforts.

Jim Long shoots Defense Secretary Gates boarding CH-47

It was a long, arduous journey, but it was made much more pleasant by the community of friends that were with me every step of the way. I blogged and Twittered from the trip and was inspired by the great group of folks I’ve come to know through Twitter and other social media. Every time I checked my Twitters, I was struck by all of the messages of encouragement. I wonder what I would do without Twitter and my network of friends there. Recently a friend made this observation about all of these hyper-connected relationships that transcend time and space.

Isn’t it great (crazy) to feel so connected to people you’ve never met–cheering them on, giving/getting advice
-Twitter friend

This Twitter friend had really pointed out the strange duality of this Contiuous Partial Friendship (David Weinberger’s nod to Linda Stone’s critical theory on social media, Continuous Partial Attention) While I won’t delve into the pros and cons, it is both great and crazy, or curious at least, why people who’ve never met feel such affinity towards one another. People who I’ve never met genuinely care about what I’m doing, just as I care about them. This affinity, which Leisa Reichelt describes as Ambient Intimacy, helps us stay connected across time and space and build unique bonds using online social media tools.

that sense of connectedness that you get from participating in social tools online that allow you to feel as though you are maintaining and, perhaps in fact, increasing your closeness with people in your social network through the messages and content that you share online – be it photographs or text or information about upcoming travel.
-Leisa Reichelt

Deb Schultz lyrically describes this type of this type of hyper-connected online behavior as “weaving”. In this post she points out how this “weaving” will be crucial to businesses trying to stay relevant and successful in this environment where markets are growing faster and smarter than most companies.

Jon Swanson described how we create community and relationship with these tools.

Because of twitter, I learned of a guy named Jim Long. Jim is a camera guy for NBC news and twitters throughout his day. Recently he spent a week traveling around the world. He is producing a two-part video travelogue which is wonderful. Part one is here. What is so compelling is that he gives a human side to the people who are doing the media work and the government work. It is about relationship.
-Jon Swanson

In Hawaii, social media merged with social life, where Roxanne Darling of Beachwalk met up with the weary Pentagon press at Alan Wong’s restaurant in Honolulu. Roxanne was a delightful counterpoint to the old media guard. She videoblogged about our discussions on mainstream and emerging media

Beach Walks with Rox #439 – Take a Blogger to Work

Videoblogging pioneer Steve Garfield gave a nice hat tip to our efforts, as did colleague, contemporary, and wordsmith Stewart Pittman. Atlanta blogger and social media leader Grayson Daughters questioned the resources applied to shooting a bunch of far-flung photo-ops, and while, she does raise a valid point, I hope I have provided context in her comments section. My DC Media Maker posse wonders when i’m getting that promotion from NBC. I’ll wait for that Twitter from @CathleenRitt.

Connie Reece discussing social media with NBC News team

Back here in Crawford, social media merged once again with social life. Connie Reece of Every Dot connects – one of my Twitter friends – stopped by the White House Press TV workspace in Crawford for a mind-share between old media and new. It was really a pleasure to meet face to face with someone I’ve come to know on Twitter, and Connie is even more delightful in person that her online persona betrays. Nothing can beat the human connection of direct face to face human interaction, but I do believe all of these social media platforms can help create vital bonds. On my grueling round the world adventure, It was these relationships that truly buoyed me throughout the journey. We really all made that trip together. Thank you!

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