Comments on: New media for the young altruist–find meaning in life…and a job http://www.technotheory.com/2007/11/new-media-for-the-young-altruist-find-meaning-in-lifeand-a-job/ Time-saving reflections on lifehacking, social media, and technology. Mon, 30 Dec 2013 18:20:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: Jared Goralnick http://www.technotheory.com/2007/11/new-media-for-the-young-altruist-find-meaning-in-lifeand-a-job/comment-page-1/#comment-15147 Jared Goralnick Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:08:31 +0000 http://www.technotheory.com/2007/11/new-media-for-the-young-altruist-find-meaning-in-lifeand-a-job/#comment-15147 Hi Kimi, Thanks for your thoughts here. You're right that there are some personality traits that help. But the more I think about this, the more I realize the most important step is not so much restraint as participation. You have to want to get the word out all the time, and to participate where others' are speaking about your passion. At a certain point there will be enough attention that you have to be choose-y about what you say, but the first step is just to start talking. And, imnsho, your personality lends itself to that. So don't worry about restraining yourself, just get out there and start getting involved! Hi Kimi,

Thanks for your thoughts here. You’re right that there are some personality traits that help. But the more I think about this, the more I realize the most important step is not so much restraint as participation. You have to want to get the word out all the time, and to participate where others’ are speaking about your passion.

At a certain point there will be enough attention that you have to be choose-y about what you say, but the first step is just to start talking. And, imnsho, your personality lends itself to that.

So don’t worry about restraining yourself, just get out there and start getting involved!

]]> By: Kimi http://www.technotheory.com/2007/11/new-media-for-the-young-altruist-find-meaning-in-lifeand-a-job/comment-page-1/#comment-14988 Kimi Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:14:29 +0000 http://www.technotheory.com/2007/11/new-media-for-the-young-altruist-find-meaning-in-lifeand-a-job/#comment-14988 During one of the aforementioned conversations with thwarted do-gooders, the topic of personality traits came up. Perhaps the most important, I think, are empathy and restraint. The first key step in leveraging social media (to this unrefined technological eye) is to understand the common desires of the massive number of people who contribute to this online community, to empathize with this audience and understand them enough to find the next constructive step that all or most of them want to take. This involves sensing what worries are present in this particular target community at this particular point (such as being prey to false information) and assuaging those worries, as well as finding out what they're hoping for (such as an effective and simple way to change the world for the better) and showing them a step that helps them and your not-for-profit. Restraint, however, comes in when you have to slow yourself down because you're focusing on one goal that is (so far?) only tangential to this community's life. Perhaps I should exercise some of this restraint in the length of this post ;^). During one of the aforementioned conversations with thwarted do-gooders, the topic of personality traits came up. Perhaps the most important, I think, are empathy and restraint. The first key step in leveraging social media (to this unrefined technological eye) is to understand the common desires of the massive number of people who contribute to this online community, to empathize with this audience and understand them enough to find the next constructive step that all or most of them want to take. This involves sensing what worries are present in this particular target community at this particular point (such as being prey to false information) and assuaging those worries, as well as finding out what they’re hoping for (such as an effective and simple way to change the world for the better) and showing them a step that helps them and your not-for-profit. Restraint, however, comes in when you have to slow yourself down because you’re focusing on one goal that is (so far?) only tangential to this community’s life. Perhaps I should exercise some of this restraint in the length of this post ;^).

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