DISQUS

nice to know i'm not one of your new friends

hi everyone,

I am the creator and host of Real World Green, a web video show of practical green tips . http://green-house.tv/profile/RealWorldGreen

My twitter posts are an eclectic mix of green, and notes from my other show, Gardenfork.tv

@ericgardenfork thx, eric.

This post comes at an interesting time as I am, after producing Gardenfork and Real World Green videocasts for years, am now considering adding an audio podcast version for the very reasons Ben Parr listed.

Not everyone can sit and watch a video show, but they can listen.

And yes, having a blog is important to offer follow-up and related info, it got to the point where I had to expand from a blog to a larger platform, a niche social network, The Green House www.green-house.tv

May I politely suggest that #11 on your list of Essential sites for How-To and Tips be The Green House?

The Green House is the community site I built as the home of the two web video shows I produce, Gardenfork.tv and RealWorldGreen.com .

www.green-house.tv

While its not the largest site - you all would call it a niche social network -the community on The Green House is pretty amazing. If your question about cooking, gardening, green issues, or other fun stuff isn't already answered, post a question and see what happens. Someone will answer, and then others will add to the answer, many times with pictures or videos.

Part of the appeal of niche sites like the Green House is that they are not overwhelming the viewer will all sorts of stuff. Many of the people who come to the site prefer it to the larger all-in-one sites, its not trying to be the end-all in how-to.

[ If you've ever watched Gardenfork you'll agree its the 'imperfect how-to' ]

These larger sites are a bit like wandering into Bed Bath and Beyond when all you really want is a potato masher. Niche sites like The Green House are the potato mashers of the social web.

And I love mashed potatoes.

chris introduced me to Liz a few weeks back and she certainly is great. her grace and sense of humor allows her to put up with me.

its the eye of the beholder. to most, its fine. to some its not. so they can opt-out.

i use Constant Contact (constantcontact.com) to send emails to people on the Green House ( www.green-house.tv ) list, and via my weekly update from Constant Contact, i see one or two people opt out, but i see 15 or 20 people subscribe.

this means that the email i send out each week is being forwarded to new people i would never been able to reach otherwise, so i'll take some flack from those that see it as spam.

you can't make everyone happy.

As a social media creator, this has got me thinking how i can better link-up my community forum, The Green House, www.green-house.tv, to other people and sites that share the enthusiasm we have.

one thing I already do is make all the Gardenfork and Real World Green web videos available as embeddable content.

It is the norm that people are more apt to complain than praise, and i think it important that we do praise when we can.

I've been flying Soutwest Airlines this week, and they have been great. The people have a sense of humor, even when reciting the obligatory safety information at the beginning of a flight.

David, what was going to be a short comment became a blog post that I wrote up.

http://ericrochow.com/2008/04/11/how-many-to-fo...

If you would like to see some boomers participating in a social network site, check out The Greenhouse ( http://thegreenhouse.gardenfork.tv )

I created a community site for viewers of our shows, Gardenfork.tv and RealWorldGreen.com, that runs on top of Ning, and I've found that many of our viewers do not use Facebook or MySpace, but will use a site that appeals to their interests.

The Greenhouse succeeds, I believe, because it isn't Facebook, or a Group within Facebook. Its like a small social club where they are among like minded people.

The key here is they want to engage on this site, so they do. Facebook or MySpace are not nearly as compelling for them.

Boomers are using social networks, just not the same ones as 20 year olds.

Twitter is cleaner and faster than Facebook, but FB offers more depth.

I use Twitter all day, but only go on Facebook maybe twice a day.

FB will adapt or lose the momentum.

Yes. along the same lines, my way to live life is 'Karma is Boomerang' in that what you put out there comes back to you.

And, doing what you believe in does pay off. I love producing Gardenfork and it really resonates with people. Even Gary watches.


eric.

Chris Brogan is a big reason why I'm doing what I do.

I keep a blog about what I learn and see about social media and social networking through producing my 2 web video shows, Gardenfork.tv and RealWorldGreen.com, and the community forum for viewers of the 2 shows, The Greenhouse.

A lot of people talk about social media, I'm out there creating it, and I occasionally remember to write blog posts about it.

http://ericrochow.com

http://thegreenhouse.gardenfork.tv

I started The Greenhouse, a social networking site on Ning, for people who watch Gardenfork.tv and RealWorldGreen.com .

http://thegreenhouse.gardenfork.tv

I found myself answering a lot of viewer mail, and thought it would be better if viewers could post their questions, ideas, thoughts, suggestions in a central place where everyone could read and respond. So I created The Greenhouse.

Its grown right along with the show, following the 1% rule of viewer participation.

Being in airports for the last 2 weeks gave me an idea of setting up some sort of Twitter app that would allow like-minded people to meet and chat while waiting for their flights.

http://ericrochow.com/2008/02/21/social-network...

Lots of potential in the airport just by the mass of people and the fact that a lot of them are on business.

at BKLN 2.0 , i ask everyone to make themselves a name tag. its the best ice breaker , i think.

http://web.meetup.com/54/

Yes, I do plan on getting there soon. Gardenfork.tv and RealWorldGreen.com are very targeted shows, - I didn't plan it that way, its just this is the kind of shows i like to create - and there is interest from the $ people.

The proof of concept of niche programming for me is the emails i get from viewers and the growing number of participants at our community site, The Greenhouse ( http://thegreenhouse.gardenfork.tv ) inspired by Steve and Zadi of EPIC-FU .

I use Meetup.com for my monthly social networking event, BKLN 2.0, and though not perfect, it does list those who have RSVP'd for the event, and if they choose that attendee has some bio information attached to their RSVP.

AND simple name tags are essential. its a very simple ice breaker.

my sister is taking old Media and making it into new media. she got a simple slide digitizer and is now digitizing selected slides from my parents huge collection of slide photography. we will then show the digitized slides to our parents on the laptop and type in metadata for each slide.

comments are not the only measure of success of a blog, and not all blogs need comments.

Chris' blog is a fertile comment ground because the people who read the blog are social media extrovert, and Chris always writes about topics that are open-ended conversation starters, hence the large number of comments.

a friend of mine recently proclaimed that all social media is is another form of advertising. I told him he was wrong, something along the lines of what chris says here:

[social media enables] "access to potential audiences of shared interest."

couple of thoughts here.

first, Chris Steiner's comment on bloggers reminded me of the idea that bloggers that are prolific posters seem to be labeled social media experts more often than others ( like myself ) who may not be great writers, but still are very active in social media.

i'm not a prolific or stupendous blogger, i write short bursts, but does that make me less of an expert? my bursts: www.ericrochow.com

and on the term expert, i think its fine. people can tell soon enough if you really know what you're talking about; whether you really are an expert or you just call yourself that.

and on being an expert in social media, those of us in this fishbowl are experts in different ways. i have learned a ton from producing Gardenfork.tv and RealWorldGreen.com, mainly from the interactions i have with viewers. Now that i started the Greenhouse, http://thegreenhouse.gardenfork.tv , i'm learning even more.

This is a much different experience from someone who is a text blogger. I'm managing an interactive community, not just writing posts and linking to other blogs.

What I tire of are self annoited 'experts' who write/talk about social media but aren't in the thick of it. They talk about it, but they don't make it. Doing it makes a better expert than just reading about other people doing it.

Chris, you are, to me, a social media expert. You twitter, blog, utterz, podcamp, attention upgrade, etc. etc. What more do people want before one can attain the expert level ?

For me that passion thing is me being one of those information share-ers. i've got all this stuff swirling thru my head, and i just want to tell you all about it, whether you want it or not.

People see that if its on Gardenfork, its something i'm into, and it does show in the video. One viewer said, "You blossom on the show"

And you can't be afraid of failure. That is what keeps so many from pursuing their passions. You're going to make mistakes. But sometimes those mistakes are beautiful. I call them happy accidents.

Real World Green, http://realworldgreen.com, my show on practical things you can do to reduce your impact on the earth, runs on Show In A Box.

right now RWG doesn't use all of the features of the newest version, but this grass roots group has done an amazing job creating this.

More than a few people have told me, that as they watch my video podcasts, that "I look comfortable in my own skin"

Its not really a conscious thing that I do, but it comes across to viewers. I think its the culmination of years to not being myself.

So, be yourself, within reason.