Welcome to a first for me (and many others, it would seem). The Social Media Goes Gonzo blog carnival was suggested to me by fellow blogger and provider of invaluable information Kilroy_60.

Host of numerous carnivals himself, this is the first social media one and he asked yours truly if I’d be interested in hosting it. So, here we are.

The idea behind the carnival is to take you on a journey through the social media blogosphere, and introduce you to people that you may never have read otherwise.

Since I’m making this up on the fly (oh the fun!) I can only hope it comes out okay – don’t be too harsh on me! So, without further ado, we’re off!

Let Me Take You On A Journey.

Much has been made of how impersonal social media can be, due to its inherently online bias. Yet where else can you celebrate 500 Twitter followers with a cake? Of course, making sure you read the Fine Print can help avoid cries of “You left me, you really left me!” when you lose Twitter followers. Although you could always try out another 9 social media sites for local networkers if Twitter causes too much pain.

And that’s the great thing about social media – the whole web is your home page so you’re never truly alone. This opens up a whole new way of virtual socializing as well as networking. From talking to journalists on Twitter to taking on things like the dollar challenge to help kids in Colombia enjoy a better education, our voices are being heard like never before and making anything possible.

Of course, not everyone is convinced. There are still questions like, “Okay, social media rocks – but is it good for business?“. It’s a fair question but one that can be answered fairly easily – yes, it is. If you’re willing to listen. This will help you avoid 6 common mistakes companies make in social media.

A slightly more difficult question to answer is why cheating is okay in social media. Let’s face it, no-one likes cheaters – but are there lesser cheats than others? Perhaps – you decide. After all, the life we live comes from the choices we make.

Interactivity is another area that both individuals and businesses can benefit from with social media. Did you know, for instance, that it’s helped product ambassadors help solve customer issues immediately? Of course, offers of help are just one facet of social media – many are simply happy bragging about their Gettysburg trip to their online buddies. Personal and professional – it’s all there. The connecting factor is the sociability of it all.

Yet with all this socialness, are we in danger of opening up just a little too much? Or is that the point? What is too much information in social media anyway? I guess it boils down to if you are worried about numbers or people. If it’s numbers, information isn’t really important – but if it’s people, it opens up yourself that little bit more and helps build that all-important relationship.

After all, at the end of the day, relationships are what social media is all about. It’s why you have people so passionate about stopping the automated messages on Twitter, as it feels so impersonal. It’s why we all help in growing bolder Twitters so they can enjoy the experience more. We want to be social; we want to build relationships.

A great way to do this is via a blog, and it can be fun as well. From just starting out and raising a baby blog to the other end of the age scale and discovering what Johnny Cash can teach us about blogging, bloggers are fostering relationships every day with their readers. Bloggers can share milestones, like a blog’s first year in the blogosphere; they can share advice on finding your identity, like offering 5 tips to stand out online if you are John Smith.

Discussing the state of the blog with your readers is another great way to foster your relationship with them. Asking what they like, what they’d change – it’s letting them be a part of it. And being a part of something helps you solidify your place in the social media universe and that of your blog – and if you’ve already invited your readers to jump on board, it’ll be a place already filled with friends.

Business blogs are becoming more popular too for their ability to build company/customer relationships, and not just in traditionally office-based occupations either. For instance, the combination of heavy equipment and social networking may seem strange at first, but should it be? There are all types of businesses, so shouldn’t there be all types of business blogs?

And that’s the beauty of social media – there are no boundaries because of “tradition”. Instead, it’s adaptable to what you’re already doing. You don’t need to say, “Goodbye SEO, hello social marketing” if you’re a search engine specialist; instead, use both together to strengthen results. Scholastically, social media can connect professors and professionals to further mindsets between the two. Flexibility is its strength.

It’s true that, to some, social media is a language of its own – like anything, it’s not for everyone. But if you’re even just the slightest bit curious to learn more about that thing called social media, you can be sure there will be plenty of hands to guide you along the way. After all, just like this blog carnival has been, it’s a journey we can take together.

My sincere thanks to everyone who made this maiden voyage of the social media goes Gonzo blog carnival possible: Michael Litman, John Carson, Allen Taylor, Jonathan Crossfield, Rachel Marek, Matt Churchill, David Miller, Julie Schwietert Collazo & Francisco Collazo, Teresa Hall, Shannon Cherry, Justin Goldsborough, Kari Rippetoe, Drew Gneiser, Tim Jahn, Vision Runner, Jared O’Toole, Marc Middleton, ASM Development, Andy Klebacka, Kilroy_60, Hjortur Smarason, Zoe Westhof, Anthony McCune, Jacki Brown, and Sam Bradley.

The Social Media Goes Gonzo Blog Carnival originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

In what’s going to be a first for me, I’m going to be hosting a social media blog carnival here on Tuesday 13th January 2009. The carnival will be in association with my good friend Kilroy_60, who runs an excellent read at Fear and Loathing – The Gonzo Papers.

For anyone who either hasn’t heard of blog carnivals, or taken part in one before, they’re pretty straightforward. The host (me) takes readers on a journey throughout the blogosphere, linking to blogs on a specific topic submitted by the carnival participants (you).

This is where the Social Media Goes Gonzo blog carnival comes in.

Entries are being accepted now. To enter, email me with a Subject Line of Gonzo Carnival Entry.

Entries should include…

• Your name as you want it to appear in the post
• The name of your blog
• The blog URL
• The title of the post
• The post URL

Posts that qualify for entry include…

• Your perspective on or experience with social media including blogging
• Posts that deal with any social media site where you are or have been active
• How you use social media for business or pleasure
• Social media interactions you’ve had; the good, the bad and the ugly are acceptable

That should provide plenty of flexibility to select a post.

The rules for this carnival are…

• Entries accepted from blogs only.
• Only English language posts will be accepted.
• No more than one post per blog.
• No posts with titles that include profanity or pictures of a sexual nature.

We, of course, want the social media carnival to be sociable so we’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for you to play along.

To help make the social media blog carnival as big a success as possible, feel free to promote it by mentioning it yourself on your own blog – your participation in it, what it’s about, who can join in, discussing on Twitter, etc. Let me know if you do this by leaving a comment with a link to the post and I’ll make sure it’s highlighted.

If you have any questions about the carnival itself, just ask them in the comments section and I’ll answer them there, so that anyone can see if it answers a question they may have had.

Deadline for entries is 9 January at 11:59 pm. In addition to the social media carnival, the Gonzo Gratitude Carnival and the Gonzo Business Carnival are also on 13 January. Check them out and enter all three!

The Gonzo Blog Carnival Series is sponsored, as always, by For Your Success.

Look forward to seeing you here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

Social Media Goes Gonzo originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.