How Social Networking Can Keep You Healthy?

Social Networking includes such popular websites as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc. However, there are also a lot of smaller niche social networks that are developed for the sole purpose of uniting people for a common interest or purpose. One of those networks that I recently came across was called SparkPeople.

SparkPeople is a social network that is dedicated to the idea of using this connection to help you lose weight, exercise more, or just make better lifestyle decisions. The network lets you set up a profile that other users can see and then you share your progress towards your individual goals. In addition, you can also join teams such as SparkTeam NY or New Parents etc. that allow you to connect with people not only with the same general purpose but also who have a similar lifestyle to yours. The team also has their goals that are achieved as a compilation of individual team members achieving their own goals.

The network also features trackers for both nutrition and fitness as well as body metrics, where the user has the ability to decide what they want to track whether or not is just weight or measurements etc. This whole tracking method takes the traditional food or exercise journal to an interactive level and lets you quickly see and compare how you are doing. This is important because being able to gauge your effectiveness at something can help you stay motivated if the community is just not enough.

10-15 years ago or even 5-10 years ago this would not have been possible because the technology was not there to support it. However, the basic ideas of finding a buddy or a support group, or keeping track of your progress has always been great motivators. This technology just allows you to take it to the next level.

The Spark: Fit, Firm & Fired Up in 10 Minutes a Day

Getting Back up After Being Knocked Down

So Most of the time this blog will deal with topics that involve social media, but for now I wanted to stray away from that based on my day. The day started out fine. I continued working on implementing our strategies in social media for our clients and researching new tools that we could use in future campaigns. I mixed that in with a little blog reading, some responding to e-mail and of course stuffing something in my face in the small amount of time that I have. It was around the time that I finished eating that the bomb hit. The bomb was basically a scathing e-mail from a colleague accusing me of acting like I didn't care. Ouch!! That hurt. Sure I have my off days but I never want to be known as someone who doesn't put forth effort and just glides through life, my parents taught me better than that. I had also been where I am long enough for them to know my personality, which for those of you who don't know is very laid back and can sometimes be interpreted as someone who doesn't care. So after re-reading the e-mail a couple times and wrapping around my head around the reasoning he/she felt that I didn't care I decided to take a walk to clear my head. On this walk I got to thinking that here was a chance for me to make a choice that is very common in life. I had been knocked down. Whether this was through a miscommunication or a misjudged perception of my personality it really didn't matter now because it was done. So now I had a choice to make.

• I could either complain and spend my energy on trying to justify to this individual why they were wrong and most likely hold a grudge for some time.
• Or I could make sure that the same mistake never happened again by putting in 110% and making it clear I not only care but I actually care a great deal.

Needless to say I have decided to pursue option 2 because everyone gets knocked down but it is how you decide to get back up that defines who you are. This does not mean I will have to change my personality and not be laid back anymore, but I will make sure that no one ever makes that mistake again.

Online Reality Check

One of the best things about the online world is the ability to connect with people who you may not always have the ability to connect with. For me, this means thought leaders in the social media space such as Chris Brogan, Brian Solis and many others whose blogs and Twitter handles I keep an eye on.

This constant interaction can give you a false sense of security that you are actually connected to these people and they care about what you do.

This may be the case eventually, but it takes effort to utilize this connection online to turn it into something more. This became evident this past weekend when I celebrated my 28th birthday.

What happened you ask? Well I received a reality check that I haven't cultivated these relationships enough. I was able to see this because despite being connected through a variety of mediums, not one of them wished me a Happy Birthday. So I started to think about it and decided I had two options. I could either get pissed and give up on my online connections and ignore them, or I could step back and take a look at how I can improve these connections so that next year, hopefully I would have done my job and I will receive some good wishes.

My next step then was to determine how I can improve these relationships. So here is my action plan between now and next April to help improve my network connection values.

• Comment More:This is a simple task that should add another ten minutes to my day, but can pay huge rewards. The more I comment and leave insightful comments the more I am likely to be noticed by not only the blogger themselves but by the bloggers other readers.
• Update More Frequently:One of the best ways to find more people to connect with is through Twitter. However, to increase my followers, I need to provide some sort of value to them. One way to do this is to provide more updates.
• Network more offline:This is probably the hardest step for me to accomplish because I am not what you would consider an outgoing person. I usually have to warm up to you before I can chat your ear off. I need to improve my small talk skills to make introductions with meaning instead of empty conversations.
• Follow Up:This is a combination of the three steps above but basically it just means that when I do make that new connection either offline or online, I follow up and let them know that I value their connection.

If I follow these four steps I hopefully will not only increase the number of friends that I have online but also the value of each relationship I have with them.

Can Personalization be a Bad Thing?

Personalization is becoming pervasive in our society today with all of the tools that have been created. This is becoming truer as we move from day to day. Just last week, I was in a conference put on by Media Bistro called #ThinkMobile. As you can deduct from the name, the conference was all about the mobile industry and where we see it headed in a couple years, in five years and in ten years.

Well one of the main topics of conversation surrounded the new Apple iPad, which was just released prior to this conference. The iPad for those of that might have been living under a rock the past two weeks is Apple's version of a tablet computer. However, instead of it behaving like a traditional computer, it actually acts more like the iphone, with all the latest applications and gadgets available.

There was a number quoted from the conference that there are now over "195,000 applications in the Apple app store." This number brings about the potential for a lot of personalization because not everyone has to download the same application, but instead can pick and choose the ones that matter to them. Now well I myself am guilty of personalization, (I currently have about a dozen plugins running to fit my needs on my browser) I am also wary because if I personalize my experience too much, I run the risk of losing out on the bigger picture.

Personalization Advantages:

• Allows for a better experience: A Personalized experience means it is tailored to the individual so their experience should be more valuable to them.
• Filters out Junk: Let's face it there is a lot of junk out there and by having a personalized experience you know you are only looking at what's important to you.

Personalization Disadvantages:

• Misses the larger picture: The personalization means the knowledge you get is only a small portion of what is going on in the world.
• Connections become harder: If the information is so personalized it will become hard to connect to one another because the information you consumed will be different than anyone else.

So to answer the title of the post, My opinion is that yes Personalization can be a bad thing because you can end up being so personalized that you miss out on the larger picture and could miss an opportunity, but more importantly could miss out on knowledge that will help you advance and stay connected to the world.