After a few weeks in the Twitterverse, I now understand why Twitter is the oft-cited method for Narcissists United to proclaim their superiority to the world. I mean, you have thousands of people reading your every 140 characters. We're talking phenomenal cosmic power. To be honest, I wish I could put master or guru of something in my bio. I'm starting to feel left out. But, besides the fact that I'm not master of anything, it isn't an effective way to build relationships.As it turns out, the marketers and techs who have a real following are actually the most understated. They let their vast knowledge of and passion for their work speak for them. Take Radian6's Amber Naslund, for instance (@ambercadabra). Her interview with Jason Baer (another awesome dude whom everyone should follow, @jaybaer) was chock-full of great advice on building community, delivered in such a humble, cheerful way that everyone listens. Like Jason said, her "passion for people shines through."
I think the most valuable thing I've learned over the past few weeks of my Twitter/blog infancy is that while there are a lot of bad ideas out there, it's impossible to find the good ones by ignoring people that don't tout themselves as "expert." (Or those that truly aren't expert at anything and don't claim to be). That's encouraging to me, since I am what academics call a newbie. Great ideas can come from anywhere. Filtering them out puts everyone at a disadvantage. Not because everyone is brilliant all the time, but because those who aren't well-established provide opportunities to those that are to step away from what they already know and see a problem from a fresh perspective.
That is why my goal with this blog will be to provide the best information I can about digital newspapers (ours included) and just plain old good advice from people much wiser than me. My advice for today? Sit back and relax. Say to yourself, "I do not know everything." Watch you some Kung Fu. It's OK to be a grasshopper.
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