20,000 Tweets Later: My Top 5 Influences

The tools of social media have made me so much smarter over these past few months. I’ve been exposed to such a wide variety of thought, opinion, advice that it often makes me wonder how dumb I must have been without it. To that end, I thought I would start a regular feature whereby I talk about the people who are influencing me. Consider this list a quick scan backwards over the past few months as I’ve started my business. These are the guys who have taught me.  The truth is I am influenced by a lot of people, and who is influencing often changes over the course of a few weeks or months, so expect a regular update on my influences. (The ranking of the names below is arbitrary). So as I recently pass the 20k Tweet mark, I thought I would share my top 5 influences.

My Top 5 Influences

Umair Haque

1. Umair Haque: Impetuous Prodigy

Umair Haque is a genius. Yes, a genius. I first found Umair when I stumbled across a blog post he wrote entitled “The Generation M Manifesto.” This is how that piece opens:

Dear Old People Who Run the World,

My generation would like to break up with you.

Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world — and what we want from it. I think we have irreconcilable differences.

You wanted big, fat, lazy “business.” We want small, responsive, micro-scale commerce.

You turned politics into a dirty word. We want authentic, deep democracy — everywhere.

Not only do I enjoy Umair’s writing style, I love the tone with which he pens his posts, as much as I like the general posture. Imagine an arrogant teenager, constantly at odds with his parents, who thinks he knows more than they do. Except, in Umair’s case, he does. A lot more. I haven’t missed a single piece he’s written since the July day that he published the Generation M Manifesto. And I find Umair’s philosophy and general contrarian line of thinking bleeding more and more into my own. It is easy to be influenced by Umair Haque and I am happy to be influenced by him.

With titles like “The Builders Manifesto” (where Umair attacks our misconceptions on leadership) to “Google, China, and the New High Ground of Advantage” (a treatise on the triumph of corporate ethics over blind profit potential) Umair is quickly building an impressive oeuvre of work. There is no single author whose work I look forward to reading more.

To find Umair’s blog posts, go here. His Twitter account is here

Scobleizer

2. Robert Scoble: Blogger, Techie, Real-Time Connoisseur

The unofficial Godfather of the 2010 Web, Robert is an ex-Microsoft employee who gained notoriety blogging, often critically, about Microsoft, well before I had ever even heard of Twitter. For me, Robert is a sort of model. The manner in which Robert uses, analyzes, criticizes and evangelizes on behalf of social media is something that has had a profound effect on me. Robert is first to post a highly subjective opinion on all manner of features, technologies and tweaks. He’s wrong a lot, but right even more. And beyond that, he’s not afraid to be wrong and is happy to let the community let him know. He is nothing if not available, authentic and transparent. He seemingly tries every new service that comes down the pike so that he can evaluate it, and see if it holds any value for the larger community.

Some find him corny, but I think the guy is a total sweetheart and one of the more earnest people you’ll find. Robert is a brilliant thinker, and his experience in the technology community is extremely valuable to insiders, as well as those not directly involved in the Silicon Valley/ Alley nexus.  He knows this, but would never tell you, instead deciding to share nearly every thing that goes into his brain, his camera, his iPhone, his Droid, Nexus One.

To find Robert’s blog posts, go here. His Twitter account is here

Jay Rosen

3. Jay Rosen: Press Critic and New Journalism Pioneer

Jay Rosen is a professor of journalism at NYU. He’s doing great things there, but Jay’s value to me is as a vociferous, unabashed critic of the profession of journalism. The media companies, the journalists, editors, management. It’s kind of amazing to witness how many people still don’t “get it,” and have dug in their heels holding onto business models and beliefs that are clearly outmoded. Everyone and anyone who exemplifies tired, 20th century thinking or behavior will eventually be found out by Jay. And he’ll share his thoughts honestly and authentically on Twitter. The guy can be caustic, but that is only because he cares deeply about journalism, about the power and importance of reportage to a democracy. If he’s being caustic its because he is offended by something someone is doing. He’s not a curmudgeon, yet.

As someone who is interested in the future of journalism, I am constantly on the lookout for experiments in media. Jay is a fantastic curator of developments and a supporter of many of the new projects now being attempted. As a content creator and writer myself, I am eager to find solutions to the problem of “how to get paid for content.” It’s an existential question for the media business. And Jay is my Sartre. Or Camus. Whatever, you get the point.

To find Jay’s Twitter account, go here

David Armano

4. David Armano: Agency Rockstar

@Armano is a SVP at Edelman Digital and is kind of a rock star of the agency world I suppose. I mean, he’ll deny it, but the guy is from Long Island and wears cowboy hats! I don’t know the agency world very well, but have been impressed by several firms’ efforts of late playing catch up in social media marketing. I have no doubt that agencies like Edelman, among others, will be involved in pace-setting creative projects. The simple fact is they can do more than independent consultants and smaller firms. There was one short blog post on 2010 predictions that Armano wrote, the counter intuitive style of which immediately grabbed me:

1. Social media begins to look less social
With groups, lists and niche networks becoming more popular, networks could begin to feel more “exclusive.” Not everyone can fit on someone’s newly created Twitter list and as networks begin to fill with noise, it’s likely that user behavior such as “hiding” the hyperactive updaters that appear in your Facebook news feed may become more common. Perhaps it’s not actually less social, but it might seem that way as we all come to terms with getting value out of our networks — while filtering out the clutter.

I am not even sure I agree with the above sentiment, but when I read it I knew I was reading someone who was willing to push back against mainstream thought. From this post on, I’ve been hungrily reading up on Armano’s presentations, videos and carefully tracking his Twitter stream. I do enjoy the way Armano blends the personal and the professional. I think it speaks more naturally to the way we work these days. Personally, my personal and professional lives are almost entirely blended, with almost no indication of where one ends and the other begins. I designed it this way. It is how I am able to stay creative.

I also put Armano here for one last reason. David made a highly public move from the Dachis group to Edelman Digital, a far larger player in that industry. It seems going to Dachis was an bit of an experiment for David, and must have been difficult for him to leave a project for which he had such high hopes.

But, his blog post on the subject was a tad opaque and, as someone who had come to trust and rely on David as an evangelist for authenticity and transparency, elements that I though were implied in his professional writings, I was let down by his statement. Balancing the line between authenticity, honesty and professionalism is a tough one for sure. That being said, I know Armano is going to be kicking some serious butt at Edelman, and because they have offices in New York, I may even have to stalk him on Foursquare so that I can meet him one of these days.

You can follow David Armano on Twitter, here

Dennis Crowley

5. Dennis Crowley: Bringing the Fun

What can I say about Dennis Crowley and the team he works with over at Foursquare. Man, those guys are rocking it. In fact, so much that I’ve written more than a few stories on Foursquare. So yeah, I’m basically sold on Foursquare changing the world of marketing for the better. But the reason Dennis (and his awesome team, guys like Naveen and Tristan Walker, among others) is on this list is because its clear these guys are just having so much fun doing what they are doing. When you combine that fact with the potential ubiquity of Foursquare services across all of our offline activities it makes for a potent mix.

That being said, I don’t know Dennis. Don’t know his blogging voice like the other people on this list and really the only connection I have to him is following his Twitter stream and little nuggets I pick up from friends of friends who know him. But through Twitter I do have a sense of his humor and more than that a sense of how excited he is, for himself, for his good friends and colleagues and, really, for the rest of us. At the end of the day, Dennis is going to make a lot of money with Foursquare and yet he’s doing something great for the world. Is he solving cancer? No, but he is bringing people together. He IS recreating the best elements of living in small town. We see people we know more often. We know what they like, where they go. The recommendation engine built directly into Foursquare is fantastic and will only get better. And he’s been a tremendous influence on me over these past few months.

You can follow Dennis on Twitter, here. If you don’t yet know what Foursquare is, then congrats on waking up from your coma. Image Source: Slavin FPO on Flickr

Tagged as: Armano, foursquare, Haque, Influences, Jay Rosen, Scoble