From the Wine Blogger’s Conference in Santa Rosa, CA, I think any one of us can say that we’ve just made 175 new friends and associates. We have come together courtesy of Joel Vincent and fellow organizers to talk about the state of wine blogging, but that may not be the most interesting aspect of what’s happening. At least for the purposes of this post. Here are nearly 200 people, from far flung states across the US, and possibly beyond. I’d bet there isn’t even 3 degrees of separation among the crowd. And social media, blogging, twitter, linked in, facebook, etc, have done that.
Not only are we brought together via these tech tools, but time and space have already been folded up to almost nothing. The connections we’ve made in the recent past online, even before meeting each other in person, have dissolved a majority of the preliminary “getting to know you” dance. I think that’s good. At least in most cases. So now these connections are converting into friends, allies, colleagues, and partners with tremendous potential for both business and personal relationships. There’s something about the like-mindedness that in this case brings the tech/wine lovers together and springboards us toward our goals in giant leaps.
Bottom line: Social Media has cleared a path and shortened it as well as energized, cultivated and inspired a subset of techie/wine lovers to contribute to their part of the world. And again I say that everyone benefits; the wine industry, bloggers, the online community, wine consumers, and as far as we can possibly reach. Fascinating what passion and focus can do together.
This weekend, while on the underlining pre-text of wine, was not about wine for me at all. It was all about the relationships we have all made through short 140 character snippets into each others lives, through facebook or through our own blogs. It was about coming together and all recognizing that social media has truly changed the course of our lives: personal and work related.
Granted, I had many, many damn good wines and I look forward to trying some of the Hahn (as soon as my tongue stops being red).
Yes, you are absolutely correct about that: it is, and will always be about the connection, relationships, 140 characters, 12Seconds and beyond. Thanks for everything you bring to the table as well.
I’m originally from Santa Rosa! Small World indeed
Isn’t it small! That’s why I’m totally convinced that relationships are central to everything. Thanks for commenting. More here on that: http://winedivergirl.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/wineries-in-social-media/
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