1 Not so SURL-iously

OK, not a huge fan of Second Life. Full stop.

I was reminded of this while attending a Second Life Educators (SLED) meet-and-greet this evening. It wasn't much of an event. While the four other attendees promised that they typically dance, chat, and drink, and drink (yep, I said "and drink" twice because they said "and drink" twice. Apparently virtual drinking is a big deal. Seriously?) there wasn't much going on last night.

OK, clearly I went to the wrong event (for me). I figured it would be a good way to get my feet wet. But perhaps I should have attended one of the science-oriented, or research-oriented functions. I'm an all-business kind of girl in SL. I want a lecture, or presentation, or conference. Something focused. No dancing or drinking. More chatting and sharing ideas.

So there it is. My big gripe. And part of the problem was I picked the wrong event--a social event.

I am no stranger to SL. The few events I have attended in the past have largely been on my home University's Catamount Island. I have helped Neil (who largely built the Island) to demonstrate basic functionality and telecommuting. I have watched instructors teach, and have toured classrooms and educational facilities on Catamount Island.

But I am really not a huge fan. When I arrived at the SLED meet and greet, the vibe was akin to a pack of dogs pissing on posts and sniffing each others assholes. The group of four ladies clearly knew each other and had a code (or shorthand if you will) for their largely text-based conversation. Lots of "slash glare" comments were exchanged between these ladies. I don't know what that means. I assumed it meant, "hey noob, we are a part of a clique--lol."

I introduced myself, and after the requisite "hellos" and "welcomes," it was pointed out that I'm "two years old, and no profile information." Then, one SLED lady started making weird, sort of provokative gestures. Another started dancing and then flying around the room like she was Trinity from the freaking Matrix. It was bizarre--not in a good and wholesome way. So do people do that in their business meetings, or is that behavior simply a function of the more casual atmosphere of the meet-and-greet. What ever it is, it made my feel itchy inside. Perhaps if the conversation weren;t so inane... 

So there it is. I am part of this problem. In the two years I have been a sometimes SL citizen, I have not bothered to change my clothes, update my profile information, or leave Catamount Island if I can help it. It just doesn't capture my imagination.

That doesn't mean that SL os not a game changer for education. It simply means it is not a game-changer for my digital life. I will likely go back to skulking about Catamount Island on occasion, leaving the SLED meet-and-greeters to their dancing, chatting, and drinking, and drinking.

4 From Virtual Life to Real Life with Twitter

I recently won flowers on Twitter!

I won a beautiful $50 professionally arranged vase of flowers.  I did not know the florist before hand, but had been following her on Twitter for a few weeks.

I have thought long and hard about whether or not this "counts" for the assignment. The arrangement was concluded via email, and the assignment rules specifically state "Don't cheat by just using email or phone call- this should use one or more of the tools you've got." However,  I think that it is important to point out that this was a wholly organic bridge between virtual and real worlds.

Let me explain...

As a part of my blogging strategy I follow numerous people on twitter, both local and national people. Generally, the only relationship I have with fellow bloggers is through Twitter and blog comments. Nonetheless, the relationships I have developed through these two channels has become rich in many instances, and has resulted in email exchanges. As a matter of fact, if I do ever email someone in my blogging industry, it is generally after establishing a solid relationship through Twitter, online discussion forums, and commenting on blogs. I never email someone out of the blue. It just seems weird, like cold calling on the phone.

Anyway, I started following @EnchantedFlorst and re-tweeting her tweets. She followed me back. Here's how it went down the day I made real life contact...

I was in the midst of bantering with the Yellow Pages marketing folks and @EnchantedFlorst via Twitter about old media verses new media marketing.

I stepped away from my desk, and when I came back I saw that @enchantedflorst was giving away flowers again. I had seen this before and had re-tweeted it. This time, I decided to participate.

From @Enchantedflorst:

As per her instructions, I emailed her seventeen minutes after her tweet asking if I was too late. I then
re-tweeted her free flower offer so my own followers would be exposed to her.

And then...I WON! Woohoo!

From @Enchantedflorst:

And then...I re-tweeted once again to thank @enchantedflorst and give her additional exposure.

From Me (hindsighbride):

Furthermore, there were some emailing SNAFUs that Twitter helped remedy. A few emails didn't get through to my email box. Janet from @enchantedflorst direct messaged me on Twitter instead.

While Janet offered to deliver them that evening, I asked if I could drive out to Asheville and interview her for my blog. She suggested we meet at Lady Luck Flower Farm.

I ended up writing a blog post as well as interviewing both Janet from Enchanted Florist and Katie from Lady Luck Flower Farm. Both interviews will be published on my blog in the next few weeks.

So in some ways I "cheated" by emailing. I did not blog about this immediately because of the email clause. However, the more I looked for opportunities to "get the assignment done," the more those opportunities seemed false.

I had a real, organic web 2.0 experience that connected the virtual and real worlds. Janet was using Twitter and her free flowers to gain exposure. I am using Twitter to gain exposure and meet people to interview. We both met our goals through Twitter and have developed a good working relationship since then. Janet comments on my blog and I re-tweet a lot of her tweets. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that started on Twitter, not through email or phone--though we have used both since.

I have also recently made contact with the organizers for a major blogging conference through Twitter. I believe they found me because I was #hashtagging their name and commenting about this year's conference. This is super exciting because some of the bloggers I admire the most are involved with this.

 Incidentally, I also found a number of posts about the "underground blogosphere" and email. It seems that email is a great complement to web 2.0, especially as relationships mature.


However, the point is, Twitter is a great way to foster and strengthen community among bloggers and businesses. How else could I possibly meet these people?