Res ipsa loquitur

Have you moved on yet? Haiti hasn't.

Most of us living in suburbia,  or in big cities, taking kids to school, going to work, probably have moved on,  past the brief moment when we thought we should feel bad.

So convenient.  Put it out of our minds.  Why care?   We watch tv or read a web page in a dumbed down state.     Why feel?  So much pain in our own lives?    Really?

We fail to let in real real horror and suffering.     For many, we did the same in New Orleans.  The Tsunami.    We’ve been overexposed to tragedy.  We’ve become numb. We focus on ourselves, and wonder why we aren’t happy.   Help?  Why?

We need to be shaken up.  We need to step up and start to take action.  We complain about where the world is headed. Yet we walk around in a comatose state.    We fail to do the things we can that will make a difference.   Then we blame others for the difficulties we see all around us.

Kennedy had it right when he said,  ”ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

We tolerate mediocre leaders.    Regardless of political affiliation, our leaders don’t do what they say they’re going to.  They lull us into belief that things will be different. We become fans of a “party” that has no real interest in change.  They protect their elite positions of power.   They hand their mantles down to their children.   And we continue to vote for the same mediocre leaders, year after year.    Trillions of dollars on building up a military that itself doesn’t know why we are at war.

Don’t blame them.  It’s us.

We pay more attention to our leader’s personal affairs then we do to the laws they pass.  Laws that have eroded our rights and the rights of citizens around the world.

They talk about spending on the “right things” to give the world a brighter future, yet at the end of the day,  it’s the same nonsense.    Bigger government, more laws, less freedoms, more enemies.

So here’s a chance to help a country in need.   Most of us won’t lift a hand.  Give a dollar.    Lend a hand. Why should you?

I suggest why we should.

“A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.”  Take a step.  Make a positive difference to this world.    Who knows where that step may lead you.

If you’re a blogger or simply want to donate a dollar, visit http://www.bloggersunite.org

Are you an ostrich? A good story teller?

It’s so easy for so many to dismiss and justify why we shouldn’t or can’t help when a tragic event takes place in areas of the world or even in neighborhoods that aren’t “our own”.

What goes through our heads to do this?   Our ability to justify is miraculous - on some weird level.   If there is one thing we are all experts at its the ability to justify why something is true when we know deep down it is not.  Many of us have become so good at justification that we don’t even notice that little voice saying, “you know you’re telling yourself bullshit.”

What’s your way of justifying not helping a fellow human out?   “Oh, well I don’t help out when other tragedies occur, why should I help this time?”   “I have my own problems to deal with and I don’t even know who these fucken people are?”  ”The government and non profits will help and I really don’t have the money or time to do something?”  ”Because my kid is sick, my dog got run over and I’m behind on my car payment.”  Some people will even justify why not to help based based on a religious story.

What is the story you tell yourself about why you shouldn’t help out?  Do you tell yourself, it’s not my problem?

The fact is it is your problem.  It is my problem.  It is the world’s problem.   The people of Haiti haven’t had it good even in the best of times.   A poor nation.   Plenty of hunger.   Plenty of health problems.   They, like any of us,  could be struck by a tragedy not brought on by anything we did wrong.

The people of the world and especially the people of the US need to step up and take responsibility.  That includes you.   If you make $30,000 a year or more you are in the top 1/10th of 1% of the world’s wealthiest people.   Did you know this?

You have it good compared to over 99.9% of the world.   Yet we have the nerve to complain about how bad the U.S. economy is.  Have you seen Haiti? Have you watched the news?

Or is it easier to turn a blind eye and pretend this doesn’t affect you?    It does affect you because turning away affects you.   It affects what you feel and think about yourself.

Now is a time to give whatever you can.  Do what you can to help a helpless people.  As you read these words another person there lost his or her life.  A child.  A mother. A brother. A sister. A father. A son.  A daughter.

What would you want the world to do for you, if this happened where you live?  Is it so far out of the realm of possibilities that an event like this could happen right where you are, this moment?

Do what you can.  Give what you can.   If you’re a blogger, write  a post.   Raise money on your blog using the widgets you can find on BloggersUnite.org.   If you have physical strength and the  freedom to travel, then go help.   If you can’t move, and don’t have enough money to eat, then pray.   If you can’t pray because you don’t believe it does anything, then send food or donate money to an organization like Doctors without Borders - who can make a direct difference.  Just do something that makes a contribution.

Do something to help.  Do anything.

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Bloggers Unite to Free Iran

According to the Economist English bloggers, and not twitter, provided the most comprehensive and and useful information about the post election Iran protests - as bloggers pulled out useful information from the mass of information whereas Twitter “swiftly degraded into pointlessness”. 

On June 29th Bloggers from around the globe will  be using their blogs to share, opinions,  insights,  news, videos and help us sift through the mass of information coming out of Iran.  

The purpose of this event is to harness the power of the blogosphere and social medai to help the people of Iran get their freedom.  

If you are a blogger or want more information about this event visit http://www.bloggersunite.org for more information.

Will You Blog About Refugees on Monday, November 10?

Will you please join Bloggers Unite in discussing the issue of refugees on Monday, November 10?

We invite you to join us as we make thousands of blog readers more aware of the pressing problem of international refugees this coming Monday.

The ongoing problem of people torn from their homes is something that should, and must, concern us all, in order to find a common solution and bring back life and dignity to the millions suffering.

As a blogger, you are in a key position to harness and rally energy behind this cause by sharing information about the plight of refugees.

So please join us and thousands of other bloggers by participating in this important cause.

What’s in it for you?

• An opportunity to help other people
• A chance to learn from other people’s experiences and perspectives
• A way to use your blog to do good
• A little bit of link and traffic love from other participating bloggers
• That great feeling of being part of a group with a noble common goal

How can you participate?

On November 10, 2008, please use your blog to tell your story, share your thoughts and be part of the global solution to this global problem. Thank you in advance for spreading the word and getting as many people involved as possible.

Imagine what a difference for good we can all make if we work together.

Just click here to learn more and get involved. :)

Who are we?

Bloggers Unite is the world’s only initiative whose specific focus is to continually bring bloggers together to address urgent issues that impact our world.

Refugees United, our special partner for this upcoming event, is one of the best ways to give hope to more than 40 million refugees around the globe. It’s a non-profit organization that helps refugees relocate family and friends through the Web in a free, secure way.

Have a question or an idea?

We welcome your questions, comments and suggestions below!

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Don't let perfect get in the way of possible.

How would your life change if you didn’t worry about being perfect?

IT DOES MATTER, YOUR VOICE MATTERS

On May 15th bloggers from around the world, will be uniting around one issue, to fight for human rights.

By all indications, including the fact that Amnesty International is co-sponsoring the event with BlogCatalog, May 15th should be the largest gathering of bloggers to unite about a social cause in the history of the blogosphere.

Yet despite this potential, I get a feeling that there are many more bloggers who are reading about Bloggers Unite for Human Rights and thinking, “why should I blog, on May 15th, as no life will be changed and no one will listen, to me”.

This simply is not true. Don’t deceive yourself. Words, on a blog, in a newspaper, on a protestor’s sign, have the power to influence behaviour. Your words have the power to cause another person to say enough is enough. To cause that person to take action, perhaps an action as simple as sharing her newly found inspiration with another. The chain of events that ensues may ultimately save a child’s life, a family, a community, perhaps a nation, and since we are all connected, save our world.

If you read this, please join bloggers from around the world, on May 15th, and blog about human rights.

We all at some point fall into the pattern of thinking that it just maybe doesn’t matter.

Yes, you may hear the voice in your head saying, that “it won’t matter if I don’t blog on May 15th.” When you hear that scoundrel, remember these words: IT DOES MATTER. YOUR VOICE MATTERS. Together with thousands of bloggers we can change our world.

While you may not see the direct results of the lives you touch. And while you may be troubled by this, given that we live in an instant gratification society, rest assured that as a result of bloggers uniting on May 15th, and as the result of your blog post, at least one life will change. That life, very well, may be yours. 

And because you were changed, ask yourself the question, “how will it affect the world around you, your children, your friends, your blog readers?”  Yes, it does matter,  your voice matters!

Long live Google! Maybe not?

BlogCatalog launched its Social Search today. The search results, from Social Search, provide a fascinating view into the online social network activities of close to 100,000 bloggers. While doing a search on Wikipedia, after the launch, I came across the entry for Social Search Engine. The entry describes a Social Search Engine, in part, as:

“… a type of search engine that determines the relevance of search results by considering the interactions or contributions of users. Example forms of user input include social bookmarking or direct interaction with the search results such as promoting or demoting results the user feels are more or less relevant to their query.”

Under this definition, Digg, Delicious and Wikipedia, while visibly different, are all social search engines. Moreover, according to Wikipedia, Google with their backlink algorithm could also be considered part of social search “because PageRank is relying on the collective judgement of webmasters linking to other content on the web. Links, in essence, are positive votes by the webmaster community for their favorite sites.”

After reading Wikipedia’s definition, it occurred to me that this traditional definition of social search engines, and social search, should be adjusted to more accurately reflect changes in online social networks and the underlying technologies. That is, the rapid growth of social networks and the opening up of much of their member’s social activity data through APIs, now makes aggregation and therefore search of this activity data possible. Social Search isn’t just a relevancy issue. Social search is the search of this aggregate social member activity data.

Whereas traditional search engines spider and index what tends to be relatively static data, a social search engine aggregates social activity data. The operative word is activity. It is a social member’s activity that is most relevant to social search. Social activity data includes the blogosphere but is not limited to the blogoshpere. Social activity data includes anything from blog posts, to diggs and stumbles and tweets to the many other online social community activities that take place.

Unlike the traditional definition of social search, where social activity determines relevance, under this proposed definition of Social Search, social activity drives the results. Social activity isn’t just a factor in determining relevancy. Social activity makes up the data set.

Social search is exciting because it brings us closer to receiving personal recommendations and insights into topics. This type of personal recommendation already occurs, on social networks in different ways. For example, you can submit a question on LinkedIn’ Answers and within minutes receive a number of answers to your question, or you can join one of the many groups that exist on MySpace, Facebook and other social networks.

However, the promise of social search is not that you will have to submit your question to LinkeIn, or join a group on Facebook, to access the knowledge of the social graph. Instead, social search will reach a point where there will be effective and efficient aggregation of the social activity data, such that a social search will result in relevant, personal and up-to-the minute recommendations, opinions and articles about topics from across the entire social graph. The results will filter the personal activities of perhaps 100s of millions of social network users, giving us access to the live, thinking part of the web.

We appear to be witnessing the early stages of social search. This early stage will progress from what the data sets are and how to aggregate and display them to relevancy. Given the massive amount of data on the social web, relevancy will become a critical issue though unlike Google’s current algorithm, it is likely that relevancy will be determined by a persons’ social community reputation across all networks that she belongs to. There are many reputation agggregators on the social web. It is not clear who will come out with the gold standard for reputation management. Whoever achieves that goal may be the company that ultimately drives search on the social web.

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Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship requires creativity, ideas and the willingness to embrace the unknown.

For every entrepreneur a seed was planted. A moment of inspiration occurred where the entrepreneur was possessed by the idea and could not escape its seduction.

When this happens the entrepreneur doesn’t possess the idea. The idea is the possessor, causing the entrepreneur to think of nothing else for days and weeks, to go nights without sleep, and for those who are willing to embrace the unknown and act on the idea, it changes the entreprenuer’s life forever.

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Goals...

We all have them whether we know it or not. I have gone though periods where my goals were laser focused and other times when I drifted around. Today, I’m drifting in Mexico, reminiscing about this past year and the crazy ride the blogcatalog team has been on.

A year ago, when we purchased blogcatalog, it was a down-and-out directory of blogs. There was no social network and the site looked as though it had seen its best days.

It is no secret that much of our initial inspiration came from MyBlogLog. During blogcatalog’s early stage existence (from Feb. 2007 to Jan. 2008) we were like a little brother looking up to our big brother, to learn how to play the game.

We received a lot of flack for this approach. However, whether wrong or right I believe that if you see someone doing something well, model their behaviour until you get it right and then once you know what they do, find someone even better to teach you. We did that with MyBlogLog.

Goals, though, need to be specific. One specific goal we had was for blogcatalog to pass mybloglog in traffic and alexa ranking. Nothing against MyBlogLog, I truly admire the founders for what they created. I think their influence over the social web hasn’t been recognized to the degree they deserve. There are an untold number of social applications that are inspired by what the team at MyBlogLog did. Nonetheless, a major goal of ours was to pass MyBlogLog in traffic and alexa rating.

That goal has been accomplished and during the past month we have consistently ranked higher than them. Alexa ratings can, of course, be dismissed as a crude measure, however as crude as Alexa is, it still provides a way of keeping score.

The results, though, are no accident. With blogcatalog’s recent string of new feature releases, it is apparent that blogcatalog is no longer playing in the shadow of its big brother. It is also apparent, to me, that the blogcatalog team has grown up and is willing to take greater *risks than ever before.

* MBL, post Yahoo acquisition, is evidence that not doing anything, may be the greatest risk of all.

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