Uncovering The Remarkable In Your Social Networks
Social media is an interesting animal.
We talk often – myself included – about using it to build relationships, about getting to know one’s community, about deepening human interaction.
Yet how much do we really know about the people behind the avatars?
I was thinking about this yesterday, when I realized that someone whose path crosses mine quite often, has “another life” I knew absolutely nothing about.
It’s quite remarkable, and I was floored when I found out.
Image: digitalbob8 via Flickr, CC 2.0
And that made me think some more: what is the hidden remarkability in the lives of those we encounter every day – or, at least, every few days – in social media?
We think we know them.
But do we really know them?
So I asked the question: “What remarkable thing have you done that your social networks do NOT know about you?”
Here’s some of what I got in return.
Jason Parker, who would otherwise be simply a “Gen-Y connector,” co-founded a generative anti-poverty program in Pennsylvania’s poorest county.
Narciso Tovar (a regular WUL contributor) had his head shaved some years ago on Good Morning America to help raise money/awareness for cancer in children.
Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks went to college on a full academic scholarship.
She said, “I didn’t pay for anything – not tuition, not room and board, not even shampoo. All I had to do was keep a 3.8 GPA.”
So did Lindsay Allen.
She said, “When I was a senior in high school, I competed against 1,000+ other students (in an essay competition and interview process) and ultimately earned one of 20 academic scholarships that covered four years of tuition and fees, books, and room and board at Central Michigan University.
“It changed the course of my entire college career.”
(Probably explains their impeccable work ethic.)
Rebecca Denison (who has previously been profiled on WUL) was part of a team in high school that built a life-sized model of the protein aquaporin, which moves water in and out of your cells.
She said, “It had magnets to represent amino acids and could move a magnetic water molecule through it like the protein would in your cell.”
(O.M.G! No wonder she’s a measurement maven!)
Lauren Lawson, having had meningitis and two spinal taps when she was five years old, then went and built homes for Habitat for Humanity in her junior year of college.
(I’m telling you, if you met Lauren, you’d think she’s a delicate flower. Clearly she’s not.)
Jill Foster of Live Your Talk was the first girl in her family and extended family to get a college degree.
(Which you would never imagine if you met her.)
Jeremy Hicks, online community manager for Livefyre (which y’all already know I love love love), said, “I was a Youth Minister for two summers while in college at a Church of Christ in the greater Dallas (Texas) area.
“I had a youth group of over 150 teenagers.
“We were able to help clean-up and rebuild the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, visit homeless shelters and orphanages across the southwestern United States, provide a week-long ‘Vacation Bible School’ for the inner-city youth of the 4th and 5th Wards of Houston, as well as climb two ’14ers (14,000 ft + mountains) in Colorado, Mt. Antero and Mt. Shavano.”
Jennifer Zingsheim (who has been a guest on the #measurePR Twitter chat), cared for her dog as he progressed in Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (dog dementia) and spinal problems.
She said, “What little I did—giving him medicine, carrying him when he couldn’t walk [trust me when I say her dog was relatively much bigger than Jen]—pales in comparison to the grace and dignity I saw in him as he got worse. Would that humans could love so much, see such wonder in the world, and accept age in that way.”
Shannon Mouton, who blogs at Shannon Sez So, served in health missions in the Caribbean.
Kami Watson Huyse of Zoetica sang one season with the San Antonio Lyric Opera and in a troupe at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Shelly Kramer designed a line of jewelry that was featured in celebs’ Grammy gift baskets one year, and in those of the Oscars the next.
There are so many stories that make up who we are.
How we interact.
What we relate to.
And what makes us tick.
Image: Shreyans Bhansali via Flickr, CC 2.0
There is so much that is remarkable in each and every one of us, that folks just don’t see.
Perhaps we choose not to show it to them.
Perhaps we think it’s silly, or unremarkable.
Perhaps they’re just not interested in learning about it.
Perhaps.
Perhaps.
Perhaps.
When we talk about building community, aren’t we really talking about getting to know each other in a deeper fashion than that allowed by 140 characters?
And it’s not just a question of getting to know each other better on a personal level.
It’s a smart thing for businesses to do.
Because when you know what makes your community tick, you know what will move them.
What will cause them to become evangelists… or not.
What will bring them into your corner… make them work for you… move your goals forward.
None of this should be fueled by ulterior motive.
Rather, it should be fueled by the spirit of social interaction; by the curiosity that drives our intellect and emotion; by really, truly, wanting to know each other better.
Because when we know each other better, we work better.
Clichéd, ’tis true… but true nonetheless.
If, for a client, I need to reach to people who are passionate about education, I know now that it will resonate with Gini, Lindsay and Jill.
If, for a client, I need to reach to people who are passionate about animal welfare, I know now (actually, I knew that before, but you know it now) it will resonate with Jen.
If, for a client, I need to reach to people who are fervent about mission-based work, I know now that it will resonate with Jeremy and Shannon.
However – and this is a big “however” – I can’t make this the only reason I reach to these folk.
I need to continually get to know them, as do you.
I need to give to them as much as I get.
I need to make sure they know that I am there for them as much as they are there for me.
Because that’s how this whole relationship-thing works.
So now, I ask you: what is remarkable about you?
I would really like to know; because I would like to know you better. Would you please share whatever you’re comfortable sharing via a comment below?
And if you can, please take a few minutes to ask the same question of your circle.
What is remarkable about them?
Because if you can see remarkability in them, they will see remarkability in you.
I don't have anything interesting to say about myself, (yet!) but wanted to thank you for this post, Shonali. On Twitter, I follow many more than follow me, because as I tweeted a few months ago, "there's so much plain interesting out there!" Thanks for introducing us to some more, both in the posts and in the comments.
ShakirahDawud I have a feeling you're selling yourself short!
Shonali - Wonderful post!
I've learned throughout the years - not just on social networks - that you can never underestimate what people have done or what they've been through. We are so quick to judge people at times, without even knowing what they've experienced, that's another thing that is very important to remember.
So, here is a remarkable thing about me. My high school was very well known for our Clown Ministry Troupe, which I was a part of. There were a few different aspects to the organization. It was a Catholic High School, so our activities were centered around religion and service. We performed twice a year, interpreting songs to dance and sign language - one a Living Rosary. The second, right around this time of year, we performed the Stations of the Cross.
Aside from performing however, we'd collect money in the fall, around Thanksgiving, for a local hunger center, which we'd go to visit. Half of us would be in the kitchen preparing a meal for the homeless, and the other half dressed up in their clown outfits and make up and spent the day with the kids, painting faces and what not. At Christmas, we would volunteer to paint faces for kids that we hosted as a high school for a Christmas party, and in February usually, we would raise money and visit the elderly in a local nursing home. Even when we weren't in school, during the summers, we'd dress up and go to community activities, for special-needs children, Fourth of July Parades, and others to paint faces and just do what we could to spread some love.
It was the highlight of my high school experience.
stephanie.majercik I love that story, Stephanie. I bet you'll remember that as long as you take breath, eh?
Yep ginidietrich is double type A. I bet she was hard on her professors =)
very inspirational post Shonali
HowieSPM Thanks, pal. :)
Nice list Shonali and it's so true: we share what we want people to know about ourselves. In my case it's the truth but certainly not the whole truth. ;-) My professional circle is pretty remarkable, a great and - to my surprise - growing collection of smart, capable giving people.
I've posted a few random things about myself, identifying the remarkable is something else. Fun and silly like my acronyms, that's easy. On my many vacations with family and friends, I've feed dolphins and giraffes; I have a passport with no stamps, only leaving the US via cruise - first time in 2008; I've got friends far and wide, some I've known since college and even high school. FWIW.
3HatsComm Heh! So - when you leave the US on a cruise, they don't stamp your passport when you enter a different country?
Shonali No, you use it getting on and off the ship, but so far.. no stamps. Someday ;-)
Great blog post, Shonali. It's always a lot of fun to hear where others have been, but they've accomplished and what their hopes and dreams are moving forward in life. Relationships are definitely key to great business is in any form, and nothing forges relationships better than connecting with people on a level that hits closest to him for them: their past experiences as well as their hopes and dreams for the future. Definitely another lesson learned from you, Shonali!
JMattHicks you can pay Shonali tuition in livefyre points I am pretty sure.
JMattHicks I really appreciate you sharing your story AND coming by. Thank you!
I KNEW I loved Lindsay for a reason!
Compared to some of the other remarkable things you have here, mine isn't so great. I'll admit that, when I received your email, I sent it to my mom and asked her. And she came back immediately with, "Uh. Your scholarship!"
I'm the oldest of six. I really, really, really wanted to go to Harvard. I mean, as soon as people began to ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would say, "I want to go to Harvard!" So, when I got the scholarship to Creighton and an acceptance letter from Harvard (with no financial aid), it was a tough personal decision. Now that I'm older, I know the remarkable thing about it was accepting the scholarship and not requiring my parents to put up their house so I could go to Harvard...especially with five younger siblings right behind me.
Speaking of remarkable and the third remarkable thing you told me last night, did you see that story about the ER doctor who had a patient come in and, halfway through saving her life, he realized it was his wife?!
ginidietrich I wrote about it yesterday, how different things might have been had I taken an engineering scholarship. I could have taken the partial scholarship to Boston University, a few other NE places but didn't want the debt. It was a smart decision I made to take the scholarship to LSU. I loved it, got a great education, had an absolute blast AND met one of my closest, dearest friends. Anyway.. I related to your story, which is just a remarkable thing about connecting this way. IMHO. ;-)
3HatsComm You coulda been an engineer? Wow. You know, I think rockstarjen has an engineering background... Jen?
Shonali rockstarjen Possibly, but took a communications scholarship instead. ;-)
ginidietrich I like you EVEN more now that I heard the back story. Good on you for not putting your parents in debt!
No, I did not see that ER story. Wow.
Shonali, what a lovely idea! It's interesting to me that we spend so much time interacting with one another, and *think* we know what makes one another tick, but as usual we are all icebergs with just a little bit showing above the water, but a great deal of substance below the surface.
jenzings That's such a nice way of putitng it, Jen - the iceberg analogy, I mean. Thank you for being a part of this!
Nice post, Shonali. These are the things that make us interesting, but we rarely have the chance to bring up in day-to-day conversations.
Perhaps we should all follow up with our own blog post: "What Makes Me Remarkable: 10 Things That Define and Inspire My Life, Decisions, and Interactions."
Here's a few from me: I was the lead in the opera that won the National Student Drama Festival in Great Britain, a 5-country drama competition. A Noh (Japanese stylized drama) specialist teaching at London University said it was the best Western troupe Noh production she had ever seen in her career. To prepare, in addition to regular rehearsal, we studied kabuki and other forms of Japanese drama for 8 hours a day for four weeks.
I would also add that my concern for and acute awareness of science and environment issues grew out of an experience working and living in a community with 7 oil refineries and higher than the national average cancer rates.
Some novelty ones: I've had lunch with the Prime Ministers of Ethiopia and Bermuda (not at the same time), been kissed on the cheek by Sidney Poitier, have a great grandfather who was the seventh governor of Louisiana (first one to balance the budget), and was in labor on a plane ride from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Washington.
I'll save the "wanted by the KGB" for my blog posting.
donna@vincentroagroup.com
@donnavincentroa
www.vincentroagroup.blogspot.com
DonnaVincentRoa Donna, I'd love to see that post!
Wow. You have some cool stuff in your past. I can't even imagine what the labor on the airplane was like.
This is such a cool idea for a post. You all are definitely remarkable people in my book. I sent mine in late, so here it is below. And if you ever want to go to the park and practice diving headers, I'm your guy.
So my something “remarkable” is that I helped build new basement stairs for a family, brought new baseball bats and gloves to kids who had never had them before and sang Christmas carols to people recovering from cancer. This was all part of the Crystal Apple Award program my boss at Applebee’s founded. It inspired me to get more involved in helping others and helped me understand what community really is.
A close second was the diving header I scored in a high school district soccer game. I told it might have made SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays :).
JGoldsborough That is SO awesome, Justin. Thank you for sharing. Now I want to see that diving header!
Excellent Points Made Here, Shonali! Especially Given the Fact That You Can Find Some Remarkable Things About Clients - Things That Can Not Only be Used for Fodder, But Used for Communications Efforts As Well.
Aside From That, I am Both Humbled & Honored to be On This List. Everyone Here is Just *Alot* Cooler Than I Already Thought....Well, Cooler and....Nuttier :)
Narciso Tovar
Big Noise Communications
narciso17
Narciso17 And... one of the MOST remarkable things about you is How You Manage To Type Like This... Consistently! You know I love that about you. :)
Shonali It's One of Those 'Interesting' Little Things That I Do, I Suppose. Lots of Little Things, It Seems, Do Make a Person...Not Just 'Accomplishments' or Degrees :)
Narciso17 Yes. It. Is. :p
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