It just donned on me – well, life just donned on me. I have been flapping at the beak about Social Media tools sort of at random; Celebrity iGoogle, Google Wave, FriendFeed, Facebook to name 4 of the 789,000 of ‘em out there !

When we look at each of these tools individually, we can get caught up in the details, the specifics of that tool. Instead of taking a step back – or four, we analyze the tool before us and our perspective falls into tunnel vision. Alright well, at least I’m guilty of this.

But what do we see when we take four steps back? Picture a big plastic bag full of stuff <it doesn’t matter what’s in the clear bag> Let’s say it is a 500 gallon clear plastic bag – it contains 50 pieces of lego. Now imagine that something was slowly sucking the air out of that bag… voila! Shrink Wrapped Lego. My point is this… We’re getting closer to each other. We’re getting easier to find, easier to engage, we’re getting closer to each other with the evolution of social media technology. The blue lego hooks up with the yellow lego. Then after a while the yellow falls over to the purple then the red, orange and green find their way over to the blue… and round and round it goes.

Is it still 6 degrees? I’m pretty sure it’s 4 degrees now. <I digress>.

We are witnessing the effects of what can happen when good ol’ fashioned networking and cuting edge technology, merge - albeit on a global scale. The online tools that are thriving today are tools that:

1. Enable you to better define or carve out your book cover. your brand. your packaging.

2. Organize, file, store the online information that’s important to you in maintaining these connections.

3. Help you continue to connect with likeminded individuals or communities through sharing and collaboration.

If small is the new big, if we are witnessing an economy that embraces entrepreneurial, virtual, mobile work force – far more splintered then what we have today… then where should we be looking to create our income? Read June 2009′s Wired. Great article in there about the Auto Industry – Detroit and the big three. But a few more thoughts… Affiliate Marketing? Someone I have a lot of time and respect for, Keith Burtis, is writing a white paper on this very thing. When it’s ready. I’ll post it here. In the mean time, it may be worth doing some of your own homework.

If you are involved in affiliate marketing, direct selling or something that utilizes these trends… reach out to me. I’m always happy to explore new things. Shannon@TheRenaissanceEffect.com And perhaps post some information on it here.

Alright. That’s me. Out!

http://bit.ly/11BBQ4 - Brilliant, real life example of how Social Media should be done. Read, comment and let me know what you think. Keith has a lot to say, a lot of great experience and he’s happy to share it.