One of the great problems of the information age has been the disruption of  local communities.  During the last generation, people were able to rely on their local community to help them sustain their businesses.   Accountants were able to order a pint of Guinness at their local Irish pub and pick up a new tax client before the time the beer has settled.  The local butcher could rely on his buddy’s from his softball team to pick up osso buco at his store.

Now the local accountant has been replaced by H&R Block and you buy your meat in shrink wrapped plastic on environmentally unfriendly styrofoam at Stop and Shop. Even the local watering hole has been replaced by a TGI Fridays.  In the process, our local communities are being destroyed.

You may be paying a bit less in the short term, but there is a price. Our lives are missing the interaction of oral conversations that last more than a couple of minutes.  These conversations are important not only financially, but socially. If you are a financially planner, the local accountant would naturally refer you business.  The butcher probably knows about the best poker night in town.

Now that our local communities have been upended, many of us are turning to socially networking to re-build our communities. Unfortunately, social networking sites such as Twitter do not allow for many deep meaningful interactions that lead to building communities very quickly.

A community looks to each other to grow the relationship and to interact.  According to Chris Brogan, community happens when you feel that you are among like-minded people and when you feel that your contributions matter.? Communities empower users of products or services, or people with like-minded interests to interact.

You may not realize it, but who you buy from really matters.   Spend a few moments and think about the impact of what you purchase.

Yesterday I bought a gift for a for a two year old girl at the Dolphin Bookshop, in my hometown of Port Washington, New York rather than Barnes and Noble. The purchase supports a local independent bookstore in the community. I love technology, but don’t expect Kindle stores showing up on Main Street anytime soon.

The next time you are wondering why someone from your community hasn’t bought something from you, you should think what have you done lately to build our community.

What do you think? What are you doing to help build your community? Have you been able to use social networking sites to build a community?

Related posts:

1. Review of Chris Brogan’s Trust Summit: Be a Priest and Build a Church
2. 17 Riffs on how to use Twitter to build your local business

BUSINESS

Google’s Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years http://bit.ly/2x56RV

Below is a 5 minute excerpt of his interview:

b

How a bored attorney built a web content empire http://bit.ly/1cthz8

MARKETING

How to Get More Leads from Speaking http://su.pr/232qN9 – today’s most effective lead generation and conversion tactic

Networking vs. Business Development: What’s the Difference? http://bit.ly/v8CWT

Does your brand tell a powerful story? http://bit.ly/4ib9rW

LAW:

Business Bloggers Beware: Posts Can Bring Lawsuits – http://bit.ly/33PFOo

What you need to know about Defamation and Web 2.0 http://bit.ly/28s58d

What’s in your Social Media policy? http://bit.ly/1zAMQQ

Is there more or less litigation? Dueling reports http://bit.ly/rwedd

Trend Watch: Fake/Parody Web Sites Create Legal Issues http://bit.ly/3NKsf7

Slump Sinks H-1B Visa Program http://bit.ly/EJdY8

How to Read a Privacy Policy http://bit.ly/1E7s0T

$1 Million Judgment for Online Libel | Decision http://bit.ly/133Z87

CULTURE:

Who killed Gourmet magazine? http://om.ly/UBuz

Related posts:

1. Best Law, Business and Legal Marketing reads for the week
2. Top Business and Law Links for the week
3. Internet Defamation Law: Twitter, Facebook and Bloggers.
4. The 10 best law and business links for the week.
5. Legal Reasons Why Your Company Should Have a Social Networking Policy

I have recently started reading The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz. The book, written in 1959, has been getting a lot of ink lately because his ideas are classic. Business thought leaders such as Seth Godin and Tim Ferriss cite the book as required reading.

Mr. Schwartz suggests that we should practice giving value.

• Practice adding value to things. Look for ideas to make things worth more
• Practice adding value to people. As you move higher and higher in the success world, more and more of your job becomes people development. Look for ways that you can help others. Take a look at your contacts and find ways to connect them.
• Practice giving value to yourself. You need to ask yourself everyday what can you do to make yourself more valuable today. With social media, you can make yourself more valuable by writing a blog.

Let me know of your action steps towards providing more value.

Related posts:

1. Review of Chris Brogan’s Trust Summit: Be a Priest and Build a Church

Social Media is an ongoing experiment.  Both people and companies are using this new tool to connect with people that they have never met in person.  The main goal of all of this activity is to generate new business.  The million dollar question is how to convert your Twitter followers and Facebook friends into paying customers.

The answer, according to members of the panel convened on October 23, 2009, at the Trust Summit, is to build trust. In front of a packed room of tweeps at the Harvard Club in NYC, social media rockstars Chris Brogan, Julien Smith, David Maister and Charles H. Green, discussed the issue of trust and how it relates to social networking.

According to Chris Brogan, the relationship economy will move the future. The goal of using social media is to create sustainable relationships over time.

In his book Trust Agents, Chris explains that on the web, groups of highly motivated people within every circle have already joined together, helping each other reach a higher ground. I asked Chris, through Twitter,  how professional service businesses (ie law) can harness this group to become clients. I am skeptical that lawyers and other service businesses can use social media to achieve this goal. Chris responded that you need to be a priest and build a church. What he means is that you should use social media to be part of multiple groups that will help your access each group.  Your goal is to be in the center and be the priest.

The trust paradigm is not new. Charles H. Green lectured that you shouldn’t view business through the lens of competition.  The purpose of companies is to serve society.  He argued that competitors should work together to serve the public.  Cooperation between competitors serves everyone interests.

David Sax, writing in Save the Deli observed this spirit of cooperation in the thriving Los Angeles Jewish Deli scene.  Throughout the country, Jewish Delicatessen is an institution that is in decline.  The pastrami is expensive and people are worried about the impact of schmaltz on their cholesterol.  But in LA, the Jewish Deli is thriving because deli owners cooperate.  If Nate N’ Al’s is out of stuffed derma, they call over to Greenblatt’s  for help.   You should do the same when using social media.

As Julien Smith eloquently put it:  “Social media is still an experiment. Be curious of other people when using social media. Only by risking can we create greater things for everyone.”

Related posts:

1. The Best Social Media/Entrepreneur Newsletter of the Year… Chris Brogan
2. What are you doing to build your Community?
3. Social Media for Lawyers II tomorrow (I will be speaking) #sm4law
4. Why your Social Networking Policy Should Address Collaboration
5. Best Law, Business and Legal Marketing reads for the week

Article of the Week:

10% of Twitter users account for 90% of tweets: http://tr.im/n54w

The latest Law Reads:

@Turkewitz Did Sotomayor Violate NY Ethics Rules in Private Solo Practice with “& Associates” Name? http://bit.ly/eF4jU

@VBalasubramani blogged: “Tony La Russa’s Legal Claims Against Twitter Look Tenuous” http://bit.ly/eDcSe

Social networks increasingly leading to questionable firings http://twurl.nl/w1kyhn

Facebook Friend Earns Judge a Reprimand http://bit.ly/3XUE7a

Small Businesses Take Tentative Steps Toward Online Networking http://bit.ly/2KVVF (via NYT)

6 tips for landing big customers http://bit.ly/fvJsr

@jowyang In the age of Twitter, blog posts start to matter more and more, see this wraup of #TWTRCON http://bit.ly/XKLyA

Google giving small businesses local search data http://bit.ly/yF09I

10 Ways Twitter Will Change Business: http://twurl.nl/7310i5

The Twitter Marketing Debate:

Larry Bodine: Twitter Not Effective for Law Firm Marketing

@barrettdavid: Is Twitter “Effective” for Lawyer Marketing? The “Bodine Debate” – http://twurl.nl/zxg53t

@glambert “Legal Marketing, Statistics and Hard Work” – http://is.gd/N9kT

@nikiblack “Legal Tweets: Kevin O’Keefe on social media for lawyers at the “Get a Life” conference” ( http://bit.ly/RYohc )

@lancegodard My take on esq & twitter hasn’t changed http://bit.ly/17cI6s but ways they use it have: http://snurl.com/j1tea via @jdtwitt

Related posts:

1. Halloween Edition of The Best in Business, Marketing and Law for the week
2. Legal Reasons Why Your Company Should Have a Social Networking Policy
3. Top Business and Law Links for the week
4. The 10 best law and business links for the week.
5. Have you read these? My latest business and law recommendations.

Is Facebook Turning Us Into Digital Sharecroppers?”  Good stuff here from Small Business Trends.

Has the Internet made you more productive?  more…>

The NYT reports about tech entrepreneurs trying to be the next Twitter at sxsw. more…>

Brian Tannenbaum provides sage advice for bar applicants with legal issues. more…>

Interesting thoughts of potential problems with Twitter in the future. more…>

The Economist reports on the Secrets of Entrepreneurial Success. more…>

Here’s a story from the NYT about people who are becoming entrepreneurs because they are tired of looking for work. more…>

Risk is overrated for these four iconic NY Businesses. more…>

100 Things More Popular Than Twitter. more…>

Top 10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs. more…>

Related posts:

1. The Latest Twitter Tips for Lawyers (and anyone else)
2. Best Law, Business and Legal Marketing reads for the week
3. 17 Riffs on how to use Twitter to build your local business
4. The 10 best law and business links for the week.
5. Top Business and Law Links for the week

Social Networking Sites in Litigation, or the Status Message of a Lawsuit. more…>

My Article, “Social Networking and the Law” was published in SmallBiztechnology.  Click here for the link

From Wall Street to Main St. Former Wall Streeters turned entrepreneurs.  more…>

Will the US Supreme Court end up taking a spam case?  more…>

Is your business idea protected?  more…>

10 Business words to ban. more…>

Big Company Lessons for Small Businesses. more…>

5 Things to be Aware of if you are Transitioning from Big Business to Small. more…>

Copyright infringement lawsuits directed at bloggers seem to be on the rise. more…>

Top 10 Small Business Books.  more…>

Related posts:

1. The 10 best law and business links for the week.
2. Best Law, Business and Legal Marketing reads for the week
3. Halloween Edition of The Best in Business, Marketing and Law for the week
4. New York Business Networking Events for the week of January 25, 2010
5. Howard Stern, Thomas Friedman, Amazon and more links…

From the Wall Street Journal:  So, you want to be an Entrepreneur http://tinyurl.com/blnvrb

Can a talk of a depression lead to one? http://bit.ly/LtOXK

Thomas Freidman suggests start up the risk takers http://bit.ly/EPxit

Why LegalZoom Fails Startups http://tinyurl.com/atbouk

Social Networking Sites Look Like Plunder to Attorneys http://is.gd/koCo

Social Networks and the Law http://bit.ly/iU9Pd

Does Social Media Make Us Better People? http://tinyurl.com/chkgqy

Slow and Steady Wins the Growth Race http://ow.ly/nHu

Myth of the Frivolous Lawsuit in context of a recent NY jury award: http://tinyurl.com/dg2o4h

How Chamber of Commerce”s are helping small businesses: http://tinyurl.com/cguh89

Related posts:

1. Top Business and Law Links for the week
2. Best Law, Business and Legal Marketing reads for the week
3. Halloween Edition of The Best in Business, Marketing and Law for the week
4. Have you read these? My latest business and law recommendations.
5. Howard Stern, Thomas Friedman, Amazon and more links…

Networking:

Meet other people on Twitter at the New York US Twestival 2009 on February 12, 2009. This event will be huge. Follow this link for more information.

Links:

Howard Stern’s contract with Sirius could be terminated in bankruptcy. more…>

Thomas Friedman proposes immigration to stimulate the economy. more…>

How is Amazon thriving? more…>

U.S. states renamed for countries with similar GDP. more…>

The wage gap puzzle in the legal profession: Why do women lawyers still earn less than men? more…>

Related posts:

1. Top Business and Law Links for the week
2. The 10 best law and business links for the week.
3. Review of Chris Brogan’s Trust Summit: Be a Priest and Build a Church