It Is Whatever

I met up with my mentor and Web 2.0 person* Euan Semple today. Euan is a fantastic spirit and has all the qualities in a human you would hope to find as well as being Scottish. 

In typical Web 2.0 style I befriended Euan via Facebook and it wasn’t long before he was mentoring me. When I asked why he took me on as his mentee he simply replied, “To quote Yogi Bear: If you see a fork in the road, take it!”

Below are some notes from our meeting:

1. Companies generally only use about a third of their collective knowledge.
2. A lot of individuals need to be encouraged to say what they feel. They need to overcome their fears about doing this. It is only by immersing themselves in this that they realise that they had nothing to fear in the first place.
3. When I expressed a concern I had that I don’t know as much as the geeks but I know more than the average Joe, Euan simply asked “Why do you think my blog’s called The Obvious?”
4. Do I want to become a “Blog Tart”? In other words, do I want to chase the metrics? I am referring here to the popularity of this thread. Funny though but by reading the responses I was informed by the responses as to what to write next. It’s funny how the blog entries fuel the responses and then the responses fuel the blog entries.
5. When I mentioned that it’s funny how I have learnt things from throughout my career Euan mentioned that it’s not just from those jobs where you were wondering what you were doing where you learn stuff but also from things your mother teaches you. 
6. Common sense is a main ingredient for Web 2.0
7. Search engines love blogs.
8. When a tricky situation appears in a thread sometimes it’s better to sit on your hands for half an hour. Things have the ability to sort themselves out. 
9. Best to come out of a thread situation on a positive.
10. With popularity comes unpopularity**.

* Euan isn’t a big man for labels (or one tag). Look!

** Not a pessimistic view but more a reference to the law of averages.