I am a firm believer that everything is perfect just as is.
And everything is getting more and more perfect!
I take a daily interest in any new online tool and strategy that helps me to connect and promote more good people more effectively. The boom in social media has been an exciting ride and I am immensely grateful that I have been along for it.
I invite you to look really closely at what social media is. How over 1 billion people have all gathered together to join an interconnected network called Facebook in little over 5 years.
How the tools of Facebook and other places allow us to easily find and talk to anyone anywhere and enable connectors to connect us at an ever increasing pace. Why is this happening and what does it mean? How quickly are things about to accelerate?
Can you see and feel the big companies and and banks and countries scrambling to regroup and assert their authority and power? When actually they are simply illusionary entities which will all be swiftly cast aside when a sufficient number of us embrace true unconditional love and purpose. The rush towardes this tipping point where everything is flipped upside down may be happening much faster than you think.
This is because what is happening is increasingly exponential and we have never experienced anything like this before. The open graph which is developing every day will play a huge part of this. The acceptance of niching rather than being everything to everyone by the technology leaders will also accelerate this. You see better and more powerful connecting technology will result. This exponential factor fascinates me and I see it every day in the quickly increasing number of mutual friends or connections we have when people send me requests on Facebook and Linked In. And the variety of cultures they come from. Do you really believe there will be any need for say India to suspect and police say Pakistan when a sufficient number of young people in both those countries connect for relationships, both romantic and plutonic, do more and more business with each other, learn more and more about each other. Realise that actually they have so much in common and that all that is really real is love.
When we have more mutual connections our own connection becomes exponentially deeper and stronger if we allow it to be.
I watched Gandhi twice recently. We all have the power now to gather communities around us and to inspire people to do better things in their lives.
Arthur Ashe has always been a huge inspiration to me since I watched him win Wimbledon in 1975 and got his book. I was a tennis freak back then but it was his positivity which was the biggest learning. He had to breakthrough huge barriers and always kept a great attitude. R.I.P
The elections in the United States were fascinating. The speeches coming from the Republican Congress and the Democrats could barely have been more different when it came to moral issues.
These will be desperately scary times for those who love to impose “authority” and to suppress others. For those with “established supply chains” and monopolies. For those who profit from suspicion and fear between the dozens of groups of people that were at one time classified as “nations”. This is all being broken down of course and I suggest that it is about to explode.
Tablets, smart phones and other ever powerful mobile devices are about to become super super accessible to literally hundreds of millions of people in China and other parts of Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe everywhere. How long before those billion people on Facebook becomes 2 billion? Or the 500 million on Twitter becomes a billion? Sure not all those people are regular users yet but what about when they are? Is it so impossible that this might not happen in the next year?
In August 2008 I suggested very strongly and repeatedly to a group of people who removed their community activity from Facebook to a secret Ning site that this would kill their community. I predicted that by Christmas of that year there would be at least 15 million people on Facebook (at that time I think there was about 8 million). In fact I grossly underestimated the potential growth and I think that by Christmas 2008 there were 50 million.
Hence my reluctance to underestimate again as I look at what is something of a second wave. In this second wave all the “holding on to things” is going to fall away. All the “this is my photo you have to pay to use it”, “these are my connections you cannot see them” and “that is my quote you should have credited me” . All the “my product or service is better than yours” marketing. All these kind of emotions and feelings will be being laughed at in a year or so’s time. There is only love so by default there is only abundance you see.
I was loudly and roundly ridiculed by all apart from one person. I am a believer that it is possible for us all to connect and live peacefully. That there is enough for everyone. I am no longer surprised by the growth of sites like Instagram, Tumbler, Reddit and Pinterest. I predict that there will be much more of that in the next few months. The barriers are falling away because of increasing powerful algorithms and bandwidth and the open graph.
How can you prepare for this rush of connection and consciousness?
This new paradigm?
Some random thoughts….
Be open. Embrace connection.
Learn new tools and strategies every day. Rapidly changing times require rapid re-education. Thomas Friedman taught us this in “The World is Flat” in 2004. He had even been writing in his columns in a similar vein much earlier even over 10 years ago. In the past ten years those who have embraced re-education have prospered. This will become increasingly important. Writers like Alvin Toffler, Malcom Gladwell and Eckhart Tolle have also forseen what is happening right now.
Find what you love to do and get really good at it. Seek the mentoring and inspiration of those that are the best at that thing. You may be shocked at what you will find when you do this.The blockages and stress in your health and your relationships will quickly fall away. Unlimitless possibilities will unfold before you. My own story is testament to this and there are many like me.
Feel rather than analyse. Allow rather than want. Be. Relish and make the most of every moment. Look nether back nor forward just be.
Give and give and give. The universe rewards givers. This is an irrefutable law. Things may not happen for you immediately but keep believing.
Embrace your own uniqueness and the uniqueness of the culture your were brought up in. These will identify and strengthen you once we all connect over the next few months.
Be random rather than selective or controlling. More and more information and messages, opportunities and possibilities are about to be shared with you. You will not have a hope of seeing all of it so give up on trying. If you are meant to see something or answer someone you will or if you are meant to be somewhere you will be. Trust your intuition and instincts relentlessly. Let go of control.
Social media is a part of a massive massive wave that is about to sweep away much of what we know and how we market and are marketed to. How our societies operate and how we interact with each other. This is going to happen whether you embrace it or not. The human will to connect, to share and to love is simply too powerful and there are several vehicles empowering that right now.
You may think I am a dreamer. I would not have written this it if I believed that I was the only one.
I am sure John Lennon is smiling.
As for how to practically go about supporting a cause using Facebook I offer a brief overview of what has been working for me..
I decided to launch a “message” cause about dolphins. I had long been passionate about protecting these amazing creatures and wanted to bring awareness in a unique and positive way. Many people were protesting strongly about what is happening to dolphins in Japan but we did not just want to “protest” to bring awareness.
This has all happened quite intuitively with no pressure or expectation. It has been a great experience and I know I could not have got close to getting where we have just by myself.
For over a year we were inconsistent with our posting and our follow through but recently we have been active on a daily basis and are getting great results.
I am a huge believer in the power of Facebook pages and firmly believe that they are where you should be directing the biggest part of your time and energy. We are at or around the seemingly magic number of ”1000 people talking” which seems to bring regular exposure to news feeds of likers and their friends.
I have identified a few points of learning that will benefit you too.
Be daily. 4-6 posts a day spread throughout the day seems to be a good amount
Publish a mix of posts. Some photos, some updates, some links.
Interact on the page of others in your niche as your page. Business to Business and Business to Customer marketing really. Their people will see you and take an interest.
Follow through with thanks when people share or comment on your content.
Grow an effective Twitter account and regularly tweet links to your FB posts. We have gained 2,500 or so followers organically and get regularly retweeted.
Be fun, friendly and entertaining.
Have a key message that people will remember you for.
Post regularly in Facebook groups related to your niche.
Ask great questions in your posts to get discussion going.
Build a community on your page with polls and competitions.
Identify your key supporters and become personal Facebook friends with them.
Promote your page on all your personal social media spaces.
Analyse.
Do not give up! There are a lot of people on Facebook and if you are consistent you will attract the ones who are meant to find you.
Working as a team is a great bonus as there will be days when you cannot attend to tasks and your partner will pick up the slack. The exponential factor of being supported by at least 2 personal Facebook profiles on a regular basis is also key.
So find your passion and get your message out. Jackie and I are blessed to have the support of some wonderful friends in our Empire Avenue community. You will have communities too so ask for their help occasionally. They will be pleased to do so.
People will be able to tell if you are wholehearted. If they like you and what you are doing they will support you if they believe that this is your passion.
Peace
Michael
Author and International Speaker
Please contact me on
skype: michaeltoddshoot 72
All my social profiles are here
