We get this question a lot at Every Dot Connects — “What the heck is Twitter, and how can something that sounds so goofy possibly do anything useful?”

Today, many people in Austin, Texas saw firsthand what Twitter can do with a few dedicated people and a great idea.

It was the inaugural Austin Blood Drive Tweetup, perfectly timed for July 3rd, just before an Independence Day weekend when accidents tend to happen, the need for blood is high and supplies run low.

It was launched using a variety of online tools; particularly with this Tweetup announcement post on co-organizer Michelle Greer’s blog, but also with other blog posts, lots of tweets (Twitter messages, even ones from Australia,) emails and a Facebook page.

Here’s the amazing part….

The push started on June 29th, a Sunday  –  a mere three days for people to find out about it,  to perhaps get some time off from work during a four-day workweek, to decide to participate and for many, to face possible needle fears.

The result?

100 people signed up online for a donation timeslot to come in and give blood; the Blood Center averages around 40 a day.

The professionals who run the Blood Center said they’d never seen so many first-time donors.

As I filled out paperwork today to donate, my screener said, “Are you with that Twitter group? There are a LOT of y’all - that’s great!”

Never underestimate the power of a good idea, combined with enthusiastic, tech-savvy individuals and the exponential connections of social media tools like Twitter.

(Some blood drive photos are already up on Flickr)

“Insight from hundreds of customer relationships has informed our knowledge of what it takes to reinvent historic business structures. We co-create solutions with our customers — partnering with them every step of the way to help them perform and compete better in the global market.”

Steve Papermaster, Chairman and CEO of nGenera

These observations were made by Steve Papermaster as he announced the new name for the company previously known as BSG Alliance. The name change to nGenera Corporation spotlights the company’s mission to transform companies into Next Generation Enterprises. nGenera also released its nGen Platform for business innovation, and the first three end-to-end offerings delivered on the platform: nGen Talent, nGen Customer and nGen Leadership.

Late last year Papermaster teamed up with the New Paradigm, a business innovation group led by international thought leader Don Tapscott. The union of the two companies was designed to accelerate the development of their Business Innovation Platform; provide New Paradigm with an appropriate venue to deliver their considerable content; provide Global 2000 enterprises with an immediate and actionable set of business plans, processes and collaborative tools; and help companies transform legacy operations into flexible, next generation enterprises. The recent BusinessWeek Special Report highlights their work.

Our involvement with nGenera, which coincided with the New Paradigm announcement, stems from their belief that social media and online communications are an integral part of this new world of business. Traditional PR is still around, but it is forever changed. nGenera takes seriously the need to have a real social media presence as a part of its communications strategy as they work with their customers moving forward.

The profound business changes brought about by the combination of globalization, the talent crunch and Web 2.0 technologies are reshaping the economy at an astonishing pace. Companies must begin to operate and create customer value in entirely new ways. The nGen Platform offers an answer to this new business reality. It provides Global 2000 companies with a game-changing combination of software-as-a-service, talent and knowledge — packaged into category solutions and delivered using web services — to address fast-traction areas of transformation.

To communicate effectively with its customers, itself, and the world, nGenera is adopting social media in all of its collaborative and co-creative forms. We are honored to be a part of their story.

– Connie and Mike

Sometimes I wonder where this social media thing is leading and how it will affect the lives and careers of those of us participating. Several years ago, when I hardly knew what a blog was, I came across a great one here in Texas. I’m happy to report that it’s now part of a true social media success story.

In The Pink Texas, authored by Eileen Smith, aka Pink Lady, is one of the the best political blogs in the state, or anywhere for that matter, and I read them all.

I describe the blog as political because it is actually named for the pink granite from which the state capitol building in Texas is constructed and from which a wealth of political stories emanate. Most of Eileen’s posts are on politics, but ITPT is actually more of a social commentary on everything that catches Eileen’s attention.

As the late Molly Ivins proved during her life and career, Texas politics provides ample material for humorous writing and serious observations. Eileen Smith has taken Molly’s spirit into the world of social media. Eileen is a great writer, has a shrewd understanding of our culture and politics, and no one comes up with better headlines day after day.

When I drop in to see what’s happening on her blog, Eileen may be defending her choice for U.S. President against an angry mob of comment-makers, picking on the Texas Governor, or giving a great review of the latest episode of the Bachelor. It’s always funny, always smart, and she has a bevy of followers who regularly comment on her posts. Most of them use funny pseudonyms while providing politically incorrect insights of their own.

As far as I can tell, she never censors anyone even if they’re anonymous and rude. The community she has developed is fiercely loyal and seems to police its own. If someone is over the top in their comments, everyone gets on them. And don’t dare pick on the Pink Lady herself unless you can handle a virtual tongue lashing worthy of the strictest Texas schoolmarm from her followers.

If Twitter is, as Connie Reece has noted, a virtual water cooler, then In The Pink Texas is a virtual Texas bar where folks get together and let off a little steam throughout the day.

Just about everyone working at the Texas Capitol keeps an eye on In The Pink Texas. If Eileen doesn’t report the latest rumor, then one of the many members of the ITPT community probably will. It’s the wild west of journalism and those who ignore it do so at their own risk.

What makes Eileen’s story a true social media success is that her personal blog, which is part labor of love and part political addiction, drew the attention of the editors of Texas Monthly, a world-class publication based in Austin. This past year Texas Monthly hired Eileen to edit its online publication, TexasMonthly.com, where she is also thriving.

I don’t have a business relationship with Eileen, but she has spoken at the Austin Social Media Club, where she was great. I would encourage all of you to check her out and comment on the Texas Monthly blog and, if you’re adventurous, In The Pink Texas.

It may be presumptuous of me to do so, but, if I’m allowed as a Friend of the W-List, I would like to suggest that Eileen Smith would be a great addition to the list.

~Mike

In just a couple of weeks it’ll be Mother’s day and for more than 10,000 moms who serve in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’ll no doubt be a tough one.

Not long ago I posted about a project Connie and I are working on with Trish Forant of eMail Our Military (eMOM) and Conrad Hametner of Qipit that hopefully will help make their Mother’s day just a little bit better this year.

The project involves enhancing Trish’s efforts to communicate by email with the troops while they are separated from their families. Qipit’s contribution is to provide a free and easy way to add a personal touch to the email.

On this Mother’s Day we’re all going to ramp up our efforts to reach out to the troops, especially the moms but not only the moms, and line up personalized, “qipitized” emails.

I encourage all of our readers to link up to Conrad’s site and Trish’s site to learn more. If you have any trouble, DM Conrad on Twitter. He can be reached @hametner.

It may not seem like much, but every little bit helps. I’m a military brat and I remember well the impact our care packages had on my Dad. It’s not as easy to do those same kind of mailings anymore, so please think about sending an email with a personalized message attached.

Anyone can join eMail Our Military. It’s easy. Just go here. I’m also sure that if you would like to do some artwork using Qipit, and aren’t sure about signing up for eMOM, we could use it in our efforts as well.

You can also reach the rest of us at Trish, @mailourmilitary and @Dayngr, Connie, @conniereece and me, @mikechapman.

Conference-hopping is probably not the best use of your time, if it’s just for the sake of racking up those badges, schwag laptop bags and stacks of business cards that you’ll never look at again. 

Are you stuck on a social media conference circuit, hearing some of the same speakers again and again?  Why do we sometimes do this to ourselves?

Maybe it’s because you can’t replace the warmth and understanding derived from genuine human contact. Nope, not even with clever replication in Second Life (though try telling that to the Web-savvy daughter of Direct2Dell’s Laura Thomas.)

I want to see your face.  You can see mine, too – I’ll try to have a “good face day” for you.

For maximum business effectiveness in a connected world, it’s all about the face-to-face, according to Business Week:

“Paradoxically, the great work diaspora unleashed by technology is making physical connection all the more important. As companies open more outposts in more emerging markets, the need to gather intensifies.”

On a personal level, it’s very enjoyable to commune with other bloggers and online folks who understand your work (even when your dentist does not.) 

Just like diet plus exercise, combining online and offline acquaintances is a “force multiplier,” to use a military term.  Online networking has the pleasant result of enhancing your face-to-face meetings at conferences.  You feel as though you already know people; very helpful in those first awkward moments of walking into a crowded room during an event.

One drawback to geek conferences is the audience; a roomful of people pecking away on open laptops. Hey, is anyone really tuned in to listen to the speakers? They’d like some face time, some eye contact from somebody sitting out there. Don’t make them talk to the top of your head.

The danger of liveblogging, Twittering, Seesmic-ing, etc. the conference proceedings is that you spend too much time doing secretarial duties and not enough engaging your brain and listening to what’s being said.

I’m glad to see that my colleague Connie is heading to BlogHer Business and Blogger Social 08, both in April in New York, but I’m doing my bit for face-to-face as well.

First, it’s a no-brainer for me to attend the Austin, Texas South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference March 7-11, since it’s held right where I live.   The current list of programming panels is pretty enticing, with more additions to come, and wikis are springing up to keep track of who may be coming from my Twitter group. 

I also love the many evening social events/parties, but they’re usually so loud that I get tired of trying to have a conversation by shouting.

The Houston Chronicle’s TechBlog has great advice for fitting in at SXSWi….

Second, I simply have to fly to Chicago for SOBCon08 May 2-4, because Liz Strauss and her cohorts did such a bang-up job last year that I know I’ll miss seeing some marvelous faces if I don’t go to her “Biz School for Bloggers.” 

Unlike the SXSWi behemoth, SOBCon (”Successful and Outstanding Bloggers”) is kept small and very focused, with lots of interaction amongst conference attendees during the sessions, not just squooshed into moments in the hallways or bathroom.  Gotta go!

Finally, I’m heading to San Francisco in July to go to BlogHer 08. 

I spoke at this conference last year, and had a blast meeting all kinds of bloggers and soaking up inspiration from speakers like Esther Dyson and Annalee Newitz.

Will I see your face soon?

I hope so!

It’s all CK’s fault. She’s the one who talked this timid traveler into venturing all the way to the Big Apple. To be fair, there was no arm-twisting involved. I wanted to attend Blogger Social ‘08 from the moment it was announced. But first I had to make sure I could swing it budget-wise. And second, I had to overcome my disinclination toward cross-country travel.

You see, I love visiting new places; I just hate the process of getting there. I dread long flights with my ample derrière squeezed into a 17-inch seat. And the last time I flew to New York, I tore a tendon in my foot getting off the moving sidewalk in the Newark airport. (Let’s just say that Grace is not my middle name, and New Balance will not be offering me an endorsement contract any time soon.)

So what persuaded me to break my new travel rule for 2008 (No Cross-Country Flying to Some Whoop-Dee-Doo Event Unless Someone Pays Me Big Bucks to Speak)?

People. Bloggers I’ve met and bloggers I want to meet.

Diva Power. Just the thought of me and CK and Toby Bloomberg in the same room gets me energized. Throw in Valeria Maltoni and Anna Farmery … makes my toes tap impatiently and I start counting the days until April 4.

Reconnecting. Looking forward to sitting down again with David Armano and Drew McLellan, whom I met last year at SOBCon and have kept in touch with since then. I love these guys, even if they do have a weird affinity for beef jerky. (just kidding) I’m also hoping for another real-time Scrabble match-up with Geoff Livingston, like we had at BlogOrlando.

International Connections. Blogger Social ‘08 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to meet some fellow Age of Conversation authors from around the world: for example, Luc Desbasieux and Kris Hoet (Belgium); Gavin Heaton (Australia), co-editor of Age of Conversation; and Arun Rajagopal (Sultanate of Oman).

April in Paris? Maybe next year. This year April will find me in New York–will you be there? Look for me. I’ll be the one with the pink hair and boa.

Blogger Social ‘08 attendees so far include: Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Terry Dagrosa Matt Dickman Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford Lewis Green Geoff Livingston Kris Hoet CeCe Lee Jonathan Trenn Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt

On February 9, 2007, an idea was born–and you’re reading it. The idea came out of conversation around a table at Starbucks with Mike Chapman and Kelley Burrus, two professional colleagues who were fast becoming personal friends. I was venting about the PR firm that had brought us together but not let us use our talents–especially when it came to social media.

In between sips of a latte, I went on and on about the power of social media for making connections between people and ideas and causes and … and … and …

After a while Mike scribbled something on a piece of paper, tore it out of his legal pad, and pushed it across the table. “You need a name,” he said, “and here it is–in three words.” Every Dot Connects.

Three days later I had a logo and an exit strategy. And here we are–not quite a year after that memorable conversation at Starbucks–debuting in Mack Collier’s Top 25 Marketing Blogs list at #23. (Please excuse me while I remind myself to take a deep breath.)

Over the holidays it has been fun to get to know Mack better on Twitter (mackcollier). He is a social media consultant and author of The Viral Garden, a blog focusing on marketing and social media. Mack is also a frequent contributor to the marketing blog Daily Fix, and one of the contributing authors to the Age of Conversation project.

What a year it’s been! During 2007 Mike Chapman and I became business partners. Kelley Burrus and Brenda Thomspon remain our head cheerleaders, go-to resources, and occasional contributors to the blog. While not yet listed as part of the Every Dot Connects team, Sheila Scarborough and Kara Soluri will be frequent contributors in 2008. Our goal is to continue to create value for readers and to continue connecting people, causes and ideas.

Thanks, Mack; thanks, Team; and most of all, thanks to all who read and contribute comments here.

People who do not invest time in social networking often wonder about the quality of online friendships. They doubt the depth or strength of connections made with people you’ve never met face to face. My thoughts match those of Shel Israel: “My virtual friends are all real.” (I’m paraphrasing something you said in an interview, Shel. Hope I got close to your actual words.)

For you Doubting Thomases, here’s a story to demonstrate the depth and breadth–and the power–of online community.

A friend I’ve never met in person is scared. Very scared. Susan Reynolds is having a mastectomy tomorrow. She found the lump on December 5, went to the doctor the next day, and was immediately sent to a diagnostic radiologist. Big words, big fear: Invasive Lobular Carcinoma.

You can read about Susan’s journey through the cancer experience in her new blog, Boobs on Ice. The story I want to share is how a community of so-called invisible friends rallied around Susan to support, comfort and cheer her up–and somewhere along the way turned it into a fight–and a fund–against cancer.

It started on Twitter, where Susan is the self-proclaimed nana; she’s also a power networker with hundreds of followers. When she posted a new avatar–a photo of a package of frozen peas tucked inside her camisole to relieve the pain from multiple biopsies–she joked about putting her boob on ice. Her friends continued the joke.

Then a few days later, Cathleen Rittereiser (@cathleenritt) tweeted that we should all donate the cost of a package of frozen peas to a fund for cancer research. Before you could say “bring back that beat,” Susan’s friends picked up on the idea, and what started as an off-the-cuff remark has become a full-fledged fund-raising campaign named, in honor of Susan, the Frozen Pea Fund.

The site will officially launch tomorrow–that’s when we’ll have the “click to donate” button ready. Money raised will go to Making Strides, the breast cancer campaign of the American Cancer Society.

In the interest of full disclosure, my company is doing a social media campaign for a new ACS initiative that will launch early next year. When David Neff, Director of Online Communications for the corporate office, located here in Austin, first emailed to ask us to do some pro bono work for the Society, my reaction was to sigh and wonder how I could gracefully decline. David has been part of our local Social Media Club since the very beginning, and it would be hard to turn him down. But I was frazzled from a year of starting a new business and juggling client work with personal responsibilities. How could I possibly squeeze one more item onto my already overflowing to-do list?

Before I could decline, however, Susan got her diagnosis. And everything changed.

Now I had a personal stake in this battle against cancer. While I still haven’t met Susan in person, we’ve e-mailed and talked on the phone–and were about to launch a cooperative venture that is now on hold until she recovers from surgery.

The photos you see to the left are what we are calling pea-vatars. I can’t even remember how it started–probably it was Ann Miller (@annohio) who first posted a package of peas as her avatar on Twitter. Before you know it, dozens of people had added peas to their photos and the Frozen Pea Friday Flickr group was born.

Within the first 24 hours, I noted at least 40 people sporting pea-vatars, and that was only among the 600+ people I follow on Twitter. Much to my delight, Robert Scoble picked up the peas theme and tied it into the world economic forum at Davos. And even Loic Lemeur, founder of Seesmic, is sporting a pea-vatar on Twitter. (Bless you, one and all!)

So many people are working behind the scenes to help launch the Frozen Pea Fund that I’ll probably miss naming someone here, but I at least have to acknowledge Michelle Wolverton (@chelpixie), who is building the WordPress site, and Ryan Karpeles (@ryankarpeles), who designed the FPF logo. Cathleen came up with the tagline: We will not appease cancer. And Laura Fitton (@pistachio) is cooking up something with a new Twitter account: @peaple.

In the days to come, Susan’s family will be by her bedside, caring for her and assisting her recovery. But an entire socialmediasphere will be rallying around her cause, lifting her spirits and doing our small part to help find a cure. Join us, won’t you?

This morning, as I’m scrolling through my Google Reader, drinking coffee, and checking on the news of the day, I’m certain I must have broken into a huge grin when I came across the headline, Connie’s Mother’s Blog, posted by Shel Israel on his Global Neighbourhoods site.

It reminded me of a time earlier this year, when Kelley Burrus, Connie Reece and I were discussing how social media allows people to connect, who might not ordinarily do so. We had no idea then just how possible that really is. We came up with the name Every Dot Connects during that conversation.

I can’t say for sure, but that same conversation probably included talk about the book Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. I’m almost certain it did because Connie evangelizes regularly about the book and both of its authors.

We wouldn’t have believed, at the beginning of the year, that we would have met Shel, much less become friends and have a real human connection with him. We have. He is a great guy with a real sense of how we humans are going to be communicating as technology continues to rapidly advance. He also, as is evidenced by today’s post, remembers that this really is all about humans connecting.

Connie’s Mom, also named Connie, is a heck of a woman, to be sure. And she is well past the point of needing to use online social networking tools to make new friends. She would be probably be just fine knowing the thousands of people she already has met from a full life of social interaction done the pre-internet way. She knows, however, that her daughter is fascinated by social media and so she jumped right into blogging in order to remain very involved in her daughter’s life. As a benefit, she has entered, unafraid it seems, into this whole new world of communications technology.

Shel Israel didn’t have to notice, but he did. He points out how his own mother is also involved in social media. What all of this means to me is that Shel continues to be someone that I should read, on a regular basis, and learn from. He truly does understand the human side to this amazing technology story. His post also tells me that Connie’s mom also gets it, and that social media is available to everyone.

Given enough time, the right technologies, and the natural human instinct to develop relationships, we can all connect in positive, beneficial ways with social media as a key component. Connie’s Mother and Shel’s Mother are proof. I’m still grinning!

A group of us were gathered in the downtown San Marcos, Texas, home of online media entrepreneur Scott Gregson, following the successful Blogtoberfest 07. Laura Fitton and Chris Brogan had flown in for the day from Boston to participate in the event. John Moore of Brand Autopsy fame spoke. My business partner, Connie Reece, was there with her pink boa. And then there was whurley. He put social media, current trends, technology and its impact on people, all into perspective.

whurley is a person. whurley is a brand. whurley is a philanthropist. whurley is an open source software expert of world reknown. whurley rides a skateboard, or more accurately, a long board. Now late in the evening, whurley was playing guitar.

When I went over to get a better listen, I recognized Queensrhyche’s Silent Lucidity, and he was playing it pretty well. Everyone around him, especially Chris Brogan, was singing along. Chris was holding a laptop with the lyrics pulled up from a favorite site. I’m pretty sure it was Mac. It was the kind of after-party I’d been to in plenty of green rooms, with plenty of rock groups in my earlier days. The mood was similar, just decidedly more digital.

Brad Rollins, the newly selected Managing Editor of Newstreamz.com, an online news platform, asked if whurley, Will Hurley to the non-digitized, was some kind of latter day renaissance man? I didn’t think of it then, but later it came to me. Yes, he is. whurley is a digital renaissance man.

Recently, whurley told me that he is involved with Mark Warr and the Warr Guitar. While his being chief architect for open source for a major software company is impressive, this, like his guitar playing, really caught my attention. You have to check this out. I have this feeling that, before long, we’ll be seeing a whurley Warr Guitar performance in person. Maybe it’ll be in San Marcos, maybe in Austin, the city Scott Gregson refers to as a suburb of San Marcos, or maybe it’ll be in a city near you.

Look for our digital renaissance man to be right in the middle of it, wherever it is, whatever it is.