Digging Into RecruitingBlogs.com v1.29

(Dec 12, 2008) Where does Twitter stop and Facebook start? Where does the web of social media begin and end? Is Twitter a part of RBC? LinkedIn?

I would have scoffed at these sorts of questions as recently as earlier this week.

I'm not sure if it was the financial failure of key old media firms or simply finally getting enough rest to recover from October's India trip. Somehow, in the course of navigating the week, my view of the whole thing shifted.

These days, my Facebook news feed and my Twitter feed are virtually indistinguishable. The two information flows seem to have merged and are generating an enormous value. Not only don't I read the newspaper (even the Wall Street Journal on my Kindle seems tame), I can't.

The volatile flow of information from my friends and connections is livelier and vastly more relevant than the newspaper ever was. Google News and Techmeme, my go-to sources, rarely approach the novelty and wisdom of news filtered by my friends.

I can always count on Shannon Seery Gude to deliver gems like "A Blog Should Feel Like a Gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Corporate Blog". Josh Kahn is usually ready with a meaty pointer or a new tool. Right or Wrong, Chris Russell is consistently provocative. Susan Kang Nam finds amazing ideas. My kids and their friends seamlessly blend with the professional connections and long time comrades who occupy my news feed.

The list is endless. Several hundred friends on Facebook and Twitter create a flow of ideas that doesn't require anyone to be always on. It's a new crowd-filtered news source.

Meanwhile, over here at RBC, Susan Burns has been really polishing the process she uses in Talent Talk Cafe. If you haven't visited, you ought to log in one Tuesday or Thursday. The most recent session, led by Joe Gerstandt was an insightful exploration of the damage done by unchecked assumptions and some ideas about making workplaces more intellectually flexible.

Regulars like Paul DeBettignies. Maren Hogan (the real life force behind RBC) and a host of others turn conversation into education. I have to believe that Susan's footwork is the real root of the successes. The chat function on RBC becomes a classrom when Susan sets up shop.

Something's happening, again.

Jessica Maher produced a comprehensive guide to the potential benefits of using Twitter this week. It's just a part of the RBC flow. We bootstrap each other into new levels of productivity and understanding.

RBC is becoming a platform for productivity development in Social Media. The boundaries blur between the services. One space is for friends, one for candidates, one for status. They start to feel like aspects of a whole. As my platform of choice, RBC acts as a centerpiece.

I think we're about to develop some really new language for web based activities. I don't really go to the web anymore. I sort of live there and get my intellectual food between phone calls, projects, meetings and the other things that drive my day. It's an information environment that really comes to life when you let the community carry you.