Find a Maven

If you have not found a technology maven in this day and age....you are in serious trouble. As a thirty something trying to keep up with a business, social and technology landscape that changes in the blink of an eye, I have found it invaluable to be plugged into someone tech savvy that is in the know. I don't care what you do for a living or whether or not you are on Facebook...at the end of the day...our global and interconnected world is driven and often dictated by the ubiquitous nature of technology. Regardless of how you feel about applications like Facebook (and the fact that a 24 year old drives the most traffic on the planet), LinkedIn, Twitter etc. these are now global brands and applications with far reaching implications beyond networking and marketing businesses. They are shaping the way people interact socially and they are here to stay regardless of ones personal opinion. Which begets the point that if you are not up to speed on how to leverage them...you will quickly become a relic.



I recently read Macolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and he quite eloquently articulated the power of social epidemics and the players that cause these epidemics to tip i.e. salespeople, mavens and connectors. The phenomenon of social media through the use of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter has turned your average individual into a potential connector. Salespeople...to me...either have the requisite personality, skills and abilities to be effect persuaders or they learn (with a great deal of effort), but the maven...the maven is a special breed. Maven's have content knowledge and expertise to a depth that others can only longingly aspire to. Interestingly enough technology mavens are integral not only to the success of your business but in helping you navigate the waters of identifying useful websites, online tools and applications that can enhance your quality of life. I highly recommend your linking up with Nick O'Neil of http://www.socialtimes.com/ and http://www.allfacebook.com/. He is one of my mavens and he is a goldmine in his space. He is one of the two major bloggers detailing the growing pains and best ways to use Facebook especially for business and because of that fact he has a direct line to the higher ups at Facebook. Don't be turned off by the fact that some of the content is technology heavy....there are nuggets on these sites...even for technophobes.