new york

I went to the 140 conference in New York this week for two reasons-

ONE:  I was in need of inspiration.

I’ve been on twitter for over three years, but lately twitter has felt a lot like high school to me – all about popularity and carefully marketing an image (read personal brand?).   I was hoping that the conference would remind me of all the things I once loved about twitter- the diversity of people, the original voices, the exposure to people I would never otherwise have contact with, the 140 character conversations that lead to real friendships with people all over the world.

One of the greatest appeals for me of the Internet is its capacity to celebrate authenticity (much the way independent film once felt).  Youtube has always seemed to me the logical backlash to the airbrushed perfection of Hollywood, and it is the same real humanity that drew me to twitter.  And yet I couldn’t help note the disconnect between Jeff Hayzlett’s (@JeffreyHayzlett) insistence that the power of twitter is in sharing an authentic, transparent part of yourself, and Donny Deutche’s comment, only a few speakers later, about the importance of keeping your “brand” on twitter consistent- a message I hear touted over and over again.

I am a human.  I am not consistent.  I am happy, sad, annoyed, hopeless, inspired, inspiring, enraged, stupid and smart.

I will choose the raw vulnerability that the always insightful Andrea Syrtash (@andreasyrtash) implored us to share, over the always positive, carefully constructed 200,000 follower “influencer” any day.

If I want to be marketed to I’ll turn on the TV.

Which brings me to…

TWO: Jeff Pulver

The 140 conference is the brain child of Jeff Pulver (@jeffpulver).  Jeff remains an inspiration and I am so lucky to consider him a friend.  Jeff’s vision of social media is one in which every voice matters and through which anyone has the capacity to make a difference. (This was reflected this year in his lowering the conference ticket price to one which almost anyone could afford, $100-$140 for the two day conference).  Jeff’s Utopian image of the Internet may of may not turn out to be true (I am willing to bet that Ivanka Trump has a lot more followers and a lot more influence than twitterer #200,345,376 tweeting from the lonely, if passionate, confines of his living room turned office) – but even so, I was honored to spend two days celebrating both the famous and the everyday folks, each using a public medium in their own way, in their own voice, in pursuit of that smaller world where every individual counts.

Many thanks are due to the new friends I met, the old friends I was reacquainted with, and the regular folks who are doing extraordinary things with today’s social media tools, people like  @andydixn, @jeffrago, @Colorburned, @stevegarfield , @starrgazr, @skyle, @ajleon, @ellenrossano, @cathybrooks, @lynetteradio, @jonnygoldstein, @fredericg , @deanland, @zaneology, @mayaREguru … my list could go on and on, but thank you to each and every one of you.  Because of you my Mission: Inspiration 140 Conference  - was accomplished.

And if that lonely twitter #200,345,376 does in fact manage to change the world from the confines of his living room turned office, I will joyfully join Jeff Pulver  as he launches a universal victory dance.

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