Community And Beyond

Whenever I am on a flight over mountains, I like to search for those little pockets of life. I often wonder how a town of a few dozen people can sustain in the midst of such grand expansion. Someone had to put up the first hut, make the first fire, clear the first path and suddenly there was a settlement, a village, a town, and one day in some cases – a city of five million on the banks of Lake Ontario.

In 1943, Abraham Maslow wrote an article entitled "The Hierarchy of Needs". In it, he described what humans require to enjoy an enriched life. Those needs run the gamut from the most basic such as food, water, and sleep and continue all the way to self-actualization.

Nestled above the need to keep our bodies alive, is the need to belong, to be a part of something, to feel needed by others. That’s the reason for communities, clubs, associations, sports teams, email. Humans need human interaction.

The MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, iPod phenomenon is by no means a new concept; it's just a new delivery system.

I mentioned the Geek Dinner a while back and I made the decision to let social networking work for me. I started a blog (again), I reached out to new people via Facebook and Twitter and magic began to happen. These are concepts I have grasped for years but it has still been wow moment after wow moment.

The true connector is Mitch Joel – spend some time on his site, his blog, his podcast, and see what this guy is all about. He’s a smart fun guy with a wicked cool mind. And he went to TED2008, so I’m jealous. There, I said it.

Content is king, Context is the glue, Community is the soul.

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