I have to comment about Twitter, the micro-blogging tool at www.twitter.com. It is like instant messaging to those whom you are following and who follow you, plus your messages post to your page on the Twitter Web site. You can follow hundreds of people you’ve never met. It’s possible to share a subset of followers with others, but it is unlikely two people will have the exact same set of followers. The messages are usually fast and furious and can be disjointed because not every one has the exact same circle of followers.

Twitter’s prompt for your input is “What are you doing now?” The reason I detail this is to underscore the socialness in this particular platform. Twitter has two unique attributes:

1) it is about the now – quick flashes of ideas, reactions, questions and statements, and
2) it can have a very diverse group of people following each other – it’s less about groups of like-minded “friends” and more about sampling the snapshots of individuals’ lives.

This weekend a well-respected blogger, Marc Orchant, passed away. I read this as I was working and occasionally catching Twitter messages (known as “tweets”). At first I was taken by surprise because this harsh dose of reality is not something you’d expect to see. Then others who where among the people I follow paid their respects to Marc I was aware of Marc’s work on Blognation, but did not know him. I read that he and I were of the same generation. . I said a prayer for his family and friends. That’s when I started to think about “What are you doing now?”

This news caught my attention as I learned Marc has a family, and I reflected about when my mother died. I was 12; she was 41. Another tweet appeared. It was someone going to a party. Another tweet about some social media report, then another tweet about Orchant, and another about some new video platform.

Here I sat, observing exactly what micro-blogging and “What are you doing now?” is truly all about. These unique characteristics of Twitter give a snapshot of life, with a bit more detail in the image. It was like looking out of my grandmother’s apartment building in the Bronx when I was growing up right after my mother died. All around me, regular stuff was going on, just like you can overhear the conversations – a guy buys a newspaper, someone is yelling at the driver of a double-parked car, the elevated train rattles the windows – and for me at that pivotal moment in time, nothing was regular.

This was my first experience online with real-life stuff, not just a discussion of blogging or using video or some conference. It hit home that this forum, Twitter, and other forms of social media are different than most communications media that have come before.

This is not some place to hoist a billboard and pitch your wares. It is a place of ideas, for sure, but equally of emotions. It is a place of lives and, now I can see, a place of memories. Social media is first a people place. Marc, your leadership in this special place will be remembered.

Time 15:40

I know we like to talk about technology here on most days, but today we’re taking a different tact. Today we interviewed one of the deans of relationship building, Harvey Mackay, the author of Swim with The Sharks without Getting Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man who Offers You His Shirt.

Mackay has been on the New York Times best-seller list multiple times, and these two books are on the top 15 inspirational business books of all time, according to the New York Times.

Mackay built a failing envelope company into a $100 million business employing 600 people. He did it with relationships — caring relationships based on truly getting to know the other person. And so, as social media continues to take shape, I thought it important to seek the advice of those who understand a few things about relationships.

An example is the Mackay 66 , a guide to learning about each other, whether it’s as simple as making connections to the same college or favorite sports team or learning about whether the person is focused on the present or the future. Those who use Facebook, LinkedIn or any other social network can gain value from Mackay’s wealth of experience and advice on nurturing relationships.

Ten million copies of his books have sold and his column is syndicated in 52 newspapers across the country. Here are some of my favorite of Mackay’s words:

• “What every salesperson — and not enough entrepreneurs — know: The sweetest sound in the world to you, and to your customer, is the sound of your own name on someone else’s lips.”
• “Little things don’t mean a lot. They mean everything. In a business, there are 1,001 ways to screw up every day, and almost all of them can be avoided with a little more attention to detail or common courtesy.”
• “Challenge yourself to learn something new every chance you get.”
• “Business is a collaborative art, not an individual one.”

There is a webinar on the Mackay 66 on Dec. 3, 2007.