Hello fellow lifestyle igniters! You’ve already seen me take blogging into the offline world using topless body paint girls for shameless marketing. I am heading to Texas to meet fellow blogging friend David Crandall of Heroic Destiny. He recently included me in a post 27 people I can’t wait to meet in person. I am honored that I will be the first person he checks off that list. I have not compiled my list yet, but David would surely be on it.
We started talking after I started receiving hate comments on my website. Those hate comments and the subsequent responses can be viewed on the following posts:
There have been many more subsequent hate comments and even hate emails from the same person. The comments were personal attacks and added no value to the discussion. I viewed them as spam and have since not let these comments through. It was great that a complete stranger that I had never even spoken to before stepped up and defended me.
Connecting with like minded individuals has been one of the greatest benefits of writing this blog. People that I have followed for a while have reached out to me. Some of them I have reached out to. When you make a connection with someone in the online world, there has to be a reason for it. Whether it be similar values, or similar life paths and goals, it’s because you have similar interests.
As the internet and social media mesh real life with the online world, it simply is the logical step to take connections made online into the offline world. Social media allows the diffusion of ideas and information to spread with rapid virility. It is incredible how a comment left of one page, a simple tweet, or a click on a link, can set off a firestorm of awesomeness in a million different ways.
While I’m looking forward to this meeting, if I disappear after this encounter you know who did it.
Some things to ponder:
- Are there connections you have made online that have been taken into the offline world?
- Or ones that you plan on taking into the offline world in the future?
- How have real world relationships been enhanced (or not) through social media.
PS – To see David’s version of this announcement click here
Twitter Updates
I’ve met that David Crandall guy and not only is he really, really, ridiculously good looking but he’s one of the best bloggers on the entire internet! Really! I promise!
:: looks around and wonders if anyone buys that load of **** ::
So looking forward to your visit and being able to check off one of those 27 people I want to meet face to face. We are going to rock Dallas, baby! Woohoooo!
Mark,
I’m a huge believer in this and I want to write an entire post called building your online brand in the offline world. I’ve been fortunate to meet many of the people I’ve interviewed. Hopefully you’ll make your way out to Cali soon and you can crash with me
. I think that this allows you to make even deeper connections with people and continue that relationship online. It’s a very powerful thing. One thing you’ll see more and more of in the up and coming months and year is online relationships translating to real world meetups. Personally, I wanted to take the same approach to online dating. Just host a meetup sponsored by a dating company and avoid sending 500 emails and going on dates that suck 
. The joys of being an econ major. Truthfully I think that there’s something to be said for this. I actually am planning a new project called Make New Friends LA which will basically center around the premise of people online and then meeting up in person. Anyways, love this idea
I look forward to reading that post on building your brand in an offline world! And yes hopefully see you in Cali soon! I’m a terrible surfer though! Meeting in person definitely allows for deeper connections that can be continued online.
You are right. More and more online relationships will be taken into real world meetups. It will be interesting to see how these progress and which groups of people will meet where.
As you flex that econ major muscle, I hope that your project Make New Friends LA is successful! From the online world to the real world, and beyond!
Watch out for that David Crandall guy…I’ve heard he has an anger problem sometimes
http://www.heroicdestiny.com/blog/2010/08/17/what-i-want-to-be-when-i-grow-up
I hope for the time I’m in Texas he can control his anger haha. Looking forward to this Chicago meet up we’re planning! Keep doing the impossible. Those “insane” ideas are the only way we humans progress.
I have taken several online connections out into the offline world. It’s always been a great experience and certainly enhances the online connection.
The enhancement can never be understated! Whether its through local meet ups or large organized events, the benefits are huge. Nick, you organizing a meet up event in Atlanta?
The epic-ness of your beard in the title image made this post so worthwhile, I need not read any of it (although I did). The beard sums it all up.
Instead of 27 people I’d like to meet, I’m going to chalk you up for one of my “27 beards I wish I had”. Along with a few of these guys:
http://www.gossone.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/chuck_norris.jpg
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:rEDiIgXVK6JhFM:http://www.jimbo.info/weblog/2008/06/02/MrT15.jpg&t=1
and dont’ forget this classic: http://www.bestweekever.tv/bwe/images/2008/01/alborlandbeard2.jpg
lol – have fun in Texas you knuckleheads (a term of endearment)! I’ll be seeing you both very soon!
HAHAHAHA!!! Those beards are epic!!! I would never want Chuck Norris to get angry, so I’m not going to compare my beard to his. That could go bad… Very bad… Walker Texas Ranger bad… (and I’m in Texas!)
I’m always up for bridging the two worlds as it seems like a natural progression to me.
And to date, not one of these offline encounters has at all been disappointing. Somehow, the people we meet online turn out to be the same wonderful people when we meet them offline! (So far for me at least.)
May the worlds unite! When we keep in contact online it’s for a reason. We actively seek people out who have the same interests and goals or people who differ but we get along with and find interesting. If we didn’t want to interact with these people, it’s an easy a click away to make them disappear. I hope that streak of incredible offline encounters continues! See you on the road! Mystery country not yet determined!
Reading this I was thinking about that phrase ‘real life’. Sure, I have amazing friends I’ve met online and we totally connected offline but isn’t that just because all of this stuff is ‘life’? The wonderful thing about the Internet is that I can now talk with folk thousands of miles away. But the stuff that makes it fun, the connection, that’s life, real life. It’s the human interractions that keep it real.
El you make an excellent point! This is all life. Whether it’s time on the internet or time off, we are living it right now. The internet can be a great tool to enhance in person relationships, and take online ones, to the in person realm.
“It’s the human interactions that keep it real.” Well said El!
I like that approach of using some humor to deal with hate. I originally let the comments of hate through and left some up. However the same person was writing hateful things against everyone who had commented on my blog. Aside from becoming almost spam like, I didn’t want my blog to become a giant hate fest.
That incident started on one of our other (business related) blogs. Never ceases to amaze me just how dumb some people can be – really didn’t take us long at all to track down exactly who it was (a ‘competitor’)… Been paid back in kind since as we took over one of their biggest clients.
Here’s how it started if you’re interested…. Might give you a laugh! http://www.lanzarotewebdesign.com/we-answer-our-critic/