The Wayward Celt

I’ve noticed a great and very intentional practice boiling up over on G+ when it comes to re-sharing, and have adopted the same principle of behaviour to help promote it: “A good social steward acknowledges the person from whom they shared”. This is a great practice because, by default, G+ only notes the *originating poster’s* name, not whom you shared from.

But why is this important? Three reasons: the first, and most simple is that it provides direct feedback to the person who reshared that you find the content engaging enough to share it to your circles as well. Secondarily, this also allow extended networks to have visibility to other people around G+ whom you may find interesting. (I’ve personally found a number of very cool people to circle and follow using this method, as they are already up a rung of trust as an extended connection, plus they MUST be cool if they are sharing content which I also find useful and interesting!)

The third, and more global reason, however, is the sense of social stewardship. In this ever increasing global community where we’re all more connected, we’ve also become more striated, more detached, and more insular in our networks. A simple “hat tip” to the person you reshared from builds a deeper bond across the social web. Call it a form of social currency, if you will: where a link noting “Thanks to +Joe for the share/re-share” acts as payment for being able to reshare it yourself… which of course makes an unacknowledged reshare a bit like taking a cookie from the break room but not leaving your fifty cents in the honour jar; not quite stealing, but not exactly in the spirit of things either.

I’ve seen both behaviours in the extreme on G+, as well as Twitter and Facebook (admittedly Twitter can be rough to retain the amount of info in just 140 characters). You don’t have to go overboard and thank the entire chain of people who reshared before it got to you, but it IS good for to at least acknowledge the person you shared from, and if possible the original poster too. Who knows, leading by example may just pay off in a larger, more connected social network able to help you succeed beyond your wildest dreams… or maybe good karma is enough to make it worth your while.

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A friend recently blogged on ‘disconnecting’ for the weekend and the freedom it gave her to become directly involved in her life, rather than observe through her camera lens and behind a blog.

Her post got me thinking about my own tendencies towards observation and interaction. From day one I have always leaned towards the role of observer. I tend to stand back, take it all in, process what I’m seeing, and record for later use or action. Rarely do I come to a point where direct interaction is appropriate or required. But, sometime in my 20′s I realized that being the observer was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, in that if I always put myself in the role of the observer, action will never be required. In a journalistic sense, the observer/recorder should never be part of the action/interaction, lest they become part of the story (a taboo in the journalism world).

Once I realized this, I put down the camera  and tried to become more involved, living life rather than observing it. I found that I enjoyed myself much more, but over the years have realized that I missed capturing some of those moments and images. Striking to the heart of this post: as with everything in life, balance is the key.

Now is the time to find that balance. Time for me to be involved, and observant; to walk that tightrope between fully engaged but oblivious, and fully observant but detached and unaffected.

Of course, this isn’t JUST about photography either, the same balance needs to be reflected within my own social networking. Do I pause to tweet, Facebook, or blog so as not to lose the impact of the moment shared, or do I wait until later to share out and run the risk of not sharing at all when the moment begins to fade in importance and impact? There’s no singularly right answer here, as balance is the key again. Sometimes I’ll need to share out RIGHT NOW, other times I’ll need to wait, or to not share at all as I live in the moment for me and my own direct experiences. Each instance is its own choice to make to strike the right balance for me. Something to think on…

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… and I still don’t know what I am doing next week. Starting to feel under the gun to decide now. Realizing that being social is likely not something that I can control at this point, but rather just something that will come from getting on my bike and looking for an adventure.

I’ll be honest, the prospect of a multi-day ride scares me. My sense of safety is really challenged when thinking about riding without a partner or at least a known entity at the end of the day. Solo rides are inherently more dangerous for a multitude of reasons, but the main one being for the mere fact that you are alone. I won’t dwell on that any more than what needed to be said.

So, as of now, who knows where I’ll end up…. and who knows how I’ll get there. All I know is that over the next week I will meet more people face to face than i have over the past 3 years. I may have to leave the state to do that or I may not leave any further than day-long round trips in state. Who knows. The important part here, after all, is just to get OUT. And out, my friends, is exactly what I intend to get.

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