The advent of social media as a way to deliver and consume information has lifted personal and professional barriers. We’re more social as a species. Technology has disarmed our inhibitions or given us the space to be less inhibited. Like anything new we experiment and test. Run a variety of use case scenarios to discover if this is something you’ll want to have as part of your life rituals and for how long?

Does it diminish the depth of our social connection simply because we know we can FB or Twitter people anytime, any day? Does it bring me closer to the world at large and say…oh wow I didn’t know thinkers like that exist.

I really don’t have all the profound answers. As much as I am a big consumer both on a personal and a professional level, I wonder about the real connection it creates. I wonder if we are on a feeding frenzy?  Feeding on each others’ ideas, maligning them secretly or are we truly helping and inspiring each other?

I am in places like Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and now Tumblr. Some of my close circle of friends asks why do you care or they’ll laugh at me having posted photos from the previous night’s event. I guess my simple answer is I just do.

Secretly I hope that those who are in these social networks do care enough to be there and contribute. How about a cup of coffee with that?

@mavindigital

Instead of advertisers setting up their brands on Twitter would they be more effective cluing in on the Twitterati who are passionate about what their brands stand for?  Product placement and shameless endorsements have long hit the film industry, music videos, gaming and blogosphere. Why not on Twitter? With proper assessment of your Twitter followers and the content you share brands can clue in on your value system. Should it match theirs and the audience they serve, which is most likely the audience you attract a brand endorsement match is possible. No more million dollar contracts for sports stars and celebrities hello Twitter stars! Of course the former is unlikely to happen, yet the latter highly possible. How much would a brand pay @KevinRose for a brand endorsement? How would such a move affect Twitterverse and the community that lives in it?

Have you been approached by a brand to tweet about their product and services?

Here’s my Why Are You Following abstraction which reflects an initial assessment of a Twitter member’s value system and their followers. Adding a science to this thought process could be a fun experiment. Anyone interested to participate?

Connect

It is a great way to connect with people you would otherwise not meet or people you don’t have any intention of meeting and actually enjoy knowing them on Twitter. Hahaha!

Information

Whether it is for consumer insight, gossip, breaking news stories the Twitter community is a great source for the freshest and most relevant information. The secret: know who to follow. You can customize the information you receive based on who you are following.

Search

Which leads to my next point. Twitter has changed my search habits (a tad). As eloquently explained by @lewmoorman. Though I do not agree that it will lead to the demise of giant Google there still are areas that are not discussed on Twitter like arugula and beets.

Support A Social Cause

Twitter is great for rallying people around a social cause. Think Twestival.

The Awards and Drama

As in any community there IS drama. The Shorty Awards (it is happening tonight folks!) recognizing the best content producers in 140-characters. Apparently there were alleged incidents of vote buying and pranks by nominees as reported by the WSJ. It is quite an impressive event symbolic of our attraction to celebrity and fame. The masses have taken over! I personally am on the sidelines and not actively participating on this one. It is highlarious and good for the laugh.

Get Intimate With Brands

Should brands Twitter? A recent luxury brand that joined Twitter is @msprovocateur backed with other social tools as noted on Adrants. I find the move cute. Agent Provocateur symbolizes femme fatale, mystery and allure. It will be interesting to watch how teasing sweets will increase sales. Who wants to buy skiddies that range from $70 to $100++ during a recession?

Shameless Self-Promotion

True dat. A few entries in the many that I’ve found just to give you an example of the amount of shameless self-promotion that happens on Twitter. I too am guilty of shamelessly talking about my accomplishments as much as most of the community.

Tips Before You Dive In The Twitter Pond

• Etiquette. Learn the five etiquette do’s and don’ts from CIO.

• Know Your Tools. To confuse you even more there are many tools that provide insightful data about twitterverse or specific to your followers. It is always good to know who is following you. There are tools like Mr. Tweet, your personal networking assistant that recommends people you should be following. Twitter Grader is a tool to measure your marketing prowess on twitterverse. Then there is Klout that tracks your Twitter career from a lurker to influencer. Soon you’ll be wanting to send tweets from your smartphone. Twitterfon is great for the iPhone. More apps can be found on Twitdom. Here’s a glimpse of my flock of followers as shown on Twittersheep. It is a great way to customize your message. Make yourself relevant to your audience. However you decide to go about your Twitter experience enjoy it and have fun!

Here’s Your Chance To Win A FREE Full-Conference Pass To Web 2.0 Expo

• Join Twitter to participate in this special offer. It is simple and easy to create an account. Make sure to upload a photo and create your mini bio. Incomplete profiles will be disqualified. It takes 30-seconds!
• Make sure to follow @mavindigital (yep me!)
• On Tuesday, February 10 between 10AMEST – 1PMEST when I tweet “come #web2e with me” the first follower who responds “@mavindigital i’d like to #web2e with you” wins the first FREE full-conference pass
• Your entry must include hashtag #web2e in your reply for it to be official, otherwise it will be disqualified
• The full-conference pass is none transferable. No reselling please

I’m giving away a second FREE full-conference pass after February 10 so stay tuned! Spread the love and thank you for following and visiting. Come back soon!

So what do VCs want? A few tips from my conversation with a VC representing a global venture management firm. I really can’t say more than that ~ new friendship and privacy at stake.

Startup Qualities

• Be disruptive. Does your technology offer a disruptive edge that will change or influence the consumer market. Think You Tube.
• Be on the upward momentum. VCs like startups with long-term potential and growing power. At this juncture startups have the option to go for a business model that prioritizes growth in users and profits later or profits first with a smaller user base. I found this post on the Harvard Business blog from Scott Anthony that further explains the thought process.
• Be sexy. Some VCs are attracted to startups that are in the social utility genre. You may not have a clear path of monetization and are not clearly solving a consumer problem, yet your user growth and activity is phenomenal. Think Twitter.

He further opines that with the dismal economic state “a serious correction in the venture capital universe” is needed. Venture capital management firms are closely considering more than ever the companies they invest in. A sharp decline in investment activity of 33% was reported by Stacey Higginbotham of Gigaom. Early technology stage startups will find it challenging to survive the tough economy without a compelling product and a revenue model.

His advise for startups in general until the health of the economy is revived: manage your marketing spend, manage human capital and generate revenue. Stretch those venture dollars as far as you can. The startups that prevail through economic adversity will certainly blossom.

How is your startup doing? Does your startup have the qualities that would make a VC look twice?

After over six months of working with Adriana Gascoigne it proved that we had a different vision for Girls in  Tech and very different work styles. Not setting goals and objectives in the beginning of a working relationship was an Achilles heel we failed to overcome. I am positive that Adriana had pure intentions when we had our conversation in August 2008 and convinced me (at that time I was contemplating on starting a networking group in NY independent of any existing organization) to be a co-Founder with 49% time equity share which I shared equally with @dma235 for her contributions on the creative and tech assets. Though after experiencing major delays from Adriana on producing a proper co-founder agreement, our different views on growing the organization (I preferred a focused grass roots expansion while she preferred rapid expansion in any place someone raised their hand to start a Girls in Tech Chapter), disagreement on blog management, SEO and social media tactics that I knew worked well as it showed in our traffic reports and many other irritations not worth mentioning – it proved challenging to work together. After failed attempts to communicate, on January 15, Adriana abruptly made the decision to redirect the Girls in Tech URL she owns from the former community site to the splash page you now see without proper notification nor transition to the New York bloggers and the entire community. My guess is as good as yours on why she made this decision without the appropriate transition and notification to our members. On the same day I received this email message from her “It is unfortunate that our partnership with Girls in Tech didn’t work out. I am sympathetic to the work that you put into the organization and can offer you 1.0% shares each.” Indeed it is unfortunate when efforts are recognized with insufficient funds.

Though this partnership failed, I intend to march forward with the experience and value I helped create and nurture with the tech and media community at large. My involvement gave me the opportunity to engage with some of the most creative, remarkable and talented men and women in the industry. I will continue my community contributions through this blog, future small gatherings, industry events, introducing startups with VCs who will find value in their business models and ideas, and a venture forum in New York which I will help lead and produce in the coming months (stay tuned for details!).

Gratitude and very much deserved acknowledgment for the support from all our members and specially the following individuals and organizations:

Finally, here’s a special registration page from one of the partnerships I nurtured and formed Gilt Group for ladies and gentlemen who love tech! It will be available for six months so pass it along!

Do you have a similar experience to share? I’d love to hear from you!