Phil has a post that got me chuckling a little. It’s called Get global – literally and it bounces off b5’s VC funding that we announced earlier in the week and mentions the way we as a founders team of four (Jeremy, Duncan, Shai and myself) are yet to meet.
I reflect in comments what a bizarre journey it has been.
Telling your friends and family that you’re a full time blogger is a strange enough experience (you wouldn’t believe the looks I’ve received) but telling people that you just secured investment in a company that you started a year ago with people you’ve never met before leaves the ‘I’m a full time blogger’ remark for dead.
It’s got me thinking about the nature of blogging/new media and the way it opens up all kinds of connections with people you’d never have had reason to bump into otherwise. The connections can range from business partners, to those who leave comments on your blog (including those you wish wouldn’t leave comments on your blog) to those whose blogs you read etc. Some of them become daily connections and a few become close friends – most you’ll never meet.
So who would you love to meet from your experience of blogging?
Jeremy, Duncan, Shai and myself will hopefully meet in the next month or two for the first time (yet another surreal experience to add to the list). They’re obviously at the top of my list of people to meet from my blogging experience – but there are so many more that I’d love to sit down and have a beer (or a coffee) with.
If you could meet five or so bloggers in real life who would they be – and Why?
Leave a comment or write a post and let us know about it in comments below. It’ll be interesting to look over the lists that people come up with.
Excluding Jeremy, Duncan and Shai – here are the first five bloggers that came to mind for me (and the more I think about it the more I think I could come up with a list of 100 or so):
Andrew Jones – I’d like to buy Andrew (also known as the Tall Skinny Kiwi) a beer because it was him that got me into blogging as he was the first blog I ever read. He writes on Emerging Church, Spirituality, Culture etc (the topic of my own first blog) and he’s a daily read to this day. I admire him for his longevity in blogging and his creativity.
Aaron Brazell – Many of you will know of Aaron as he’s been a guest blogger here at ProBlogger off and on over the last year. Aaron is a guy that I speak with on a daily basis as he’s one of our core team at b5media. I’d like to meet him (and hopefully soon will) for a number of reasons. Firstly he’ll be fun to have a beer with, secondly I have to convince him that I’m not a complete tech idiot (it could take a few beers) and thirdly he’s show a real commitment to his work with us and me personally and I am coming to value him as a mate.
Brian Clark – Again – many of you will know Brian because I link to every second post that he writes. Brian is probably the blogger that I’ve learned the most off in the last 6-12 months. I appreciate both what he teaches on his blog but the way he does it. He embodies his message with his blogging style. Not only that he’s great for bouncing ideas around with and has given me some great advice in the last few months also.
Christina Jones – Ok – you’re all going to hit Christina’s link and wonder whether I’m a closet beauty product user – but it’s not the topic of her blog that makes me include her – it’s who she is. Christina is another b5 blogger/channel editor/project manager and is someone who has gone above and beyond the call. I admire her for many reasons but one of them is her ability to get things done. One of my many weaknesses is that I can be quite disorganized and impulsive – in this way CJ is my opposite. She’s also is compassionate, funny and passionate about the things she does.
Seth Godin – This is the person on my list who is least likely to know who I am (although we’ve exchanged a few emails from time to time and he’s been kind enough to link to this blog on occasion). I knew of Seth through his books before I had heard of blogging and admired his ability to put things that I ‘knew’ but didn’t ‘know’ into words so that I would ‘know’ them (that’s got to be one of the more confusing sentences I’ve ever written). I admire Seth’s communication skills, thinking and creativity and would just love to follow him around for a few days – just because.
Ok – so there are my five. They are largely people I’ve worked with or who I know reasonably well (with the exception of Seth) and are just the tip of the iceberg of bloggers I’d love to meet one day. I can think of 30 or so more even as I write this and know that when my head hits the pillow tonight I’ll think of many more.
But what bloggers would you love to meet in person?
This is a really cool question – sort of a “Dinner for Five” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_Five] for bloggers. Here’s mine:
1. Darren Rowse – Of course this is going to sound like a suck-up, but, come on. I don’t think there are too many bloggers who wouldn’t like to have some one-on-one time with you. Talking experiences and asking specific questions would be valuable to anyone who’s blogging.
2. Liz Strauss – I’ve learned a great deal about writing for the Web and developing online relationships from reading Liz’s stuff. It would be great to talk with her in person.
3. eMom Wendy Pearsall – In my opinion one of the best out there in the niche I write for – work at home parents. She’s very plugged in to the needs of the work from home mom, and as a work from home dad, I’d love to share insights into the different and similar views.
4. Phil Gerbyshak – His energy and positive views comes out so well in his writing and the correspondence we’ve had. His passion for what he does, and life in general, makes him just seem like one of those people you’d like being around.
5. Yaro Starak – He really has his finger on the pulse of current and emerging small business marketing and entrepreneurial trends. Having the chance to bounce ideas off him would be a great opportunity.
Sorry about the link, darn bracket. Here’s the correct one – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_Five.
This is easy….Manolo the Shoeblogger!
Well, I would like to meet Darren Rowse… but I am afraid I would have to travel a long distance and that is probably not going to happen unless I plan a crocodile expedition and bring the family along.
Liz Strauss would be another person that I would like to meet some day.
Just to name the top 2… :D
That’s easy for me. I’d just like to meet someone that shares the same passion for motorcycles and wants to share the mic with me. Proving to be harder to find than I once thought. I think this points out the underlying difficulty of blogging though. Read Time Magazine and they’d have you believe it’s as easy as pie to become a billionaire. Do it for years and you know better.
Business blogging since 2001 and love good writers…
There’s way more than 5, but since I’m forced to limit to that number:
Liz Strauss: http://www.successful-blog.com
Mike Sansone: http://www.converstations.com
Chris Cree: http://www.chriscree.net
Becky McCray: http://smallbizsurvival.blogspot.com/
Wendy Piersall: http://www.emomsathome.com/
I would like to meet God Personally and check out his computer.. :) I bet he has a serious blogging system
Nah I would like to meet the guy who made all that money at the start from his empire of blogs.. i forget his name
I thought the comments here would come in faster. My thoughts are probably a bit more far-fetched than some, because I am a little resentful of the “exclusiveness” of some (certainly not all) of the “golden ones” of the Blogosphere. “Blogs” (frankly that is an ugly, dumb word and I truly wish we had a smarter one), began long, long ago in my view. When I first began to be interested in small computers (we’re going back here to the Z-100, the first big US government-wide computer for the individual civil (or is that “swivel”) servant as opposed to the special purpose digital word processors that only secretarial specialists got to touch. I immediately fell in love with the things one could do with word processors (WordStar … still a great tool), VisiCalc (before Bill Gates could spell “spreadsheet” and email, which I had already come to value via the dumb-terminal based ARPA net. I was an avid reader of Byte magazine and I met, in print a fellow named Jerry Pournelle. Jerry, who is still very, very active wrote a monthly column and unlike most any other published column it was basically notes of all descriptions about his month’s experiences, very, very much like many Bloggers of today tend to write. Jerry went on line with his column years and years ago and still writes daily at http://www.jerrypournelle.com. He’s my guest number one.
Another guy who is a prolific writer, both on and off line, has been writing a “blog” for many many years, Bob Thompson. Bob makes his living writing computer books and was publishing his daily notes from the early days of the ‘net. he’s always an entertaining and sometimes controversial read … exactly as many bloggers attempt to be. See:
http://www.ttgnet.com/rbtdaynotes.html
no question that Bob’s my second guest.
My third choice has to be Darren. Not because I’m sucking up here but because i was aware of, but totally unconcerned with the blogging phenomena until my non-geek but brilliant wife, Mita (www.unofficalcook.com) read one of the first articles about Darren’s six-figure blogging income and my neck almost snapped as I swung ’round to the computer to learn what this was all about. Because of what I’ve learned, mainly through Darren, my wife and I both are basically full-time bloggers. We’re no where near Darren’s income level (yet) but we find blogging extremely rewarding and the income a nice asset to a hobby. Darren makes number three.
Number four would have to be Abe Orlandes (www.yugatech.com) mainly because of my wife and my’s fascination with the Philippines (we live there) and “Yuga’s” ongoing drive to not only be a professional blogger but to tirelessly teach others so that they can realize both the income and personal advantages.
Number five is the most difficult for me of all. there are about 50 candidates for the last place left at the table. I hate to have to chose but the assignment is due, so I’ll make a decision: Eric Giguere, who blogs at:http://www.memwg.com/blog/adsense/
Eric is an “Internet Marketer” in every sense of the word, but unlike the majority in his class I enjoy reading his material because even when he has his sales mode turned on he doesn’t waste my time and insult my intelligence with those 75 page sales letters. he’s also a published author, knows a lot more abut AdSense and AdWords than many who say they do and is a guy whose interests and experiments vary widely enough to be interesting.
OK, let’s see some more favorites, I liked this assignment even though I really didn’t want to chose.
Heather Armstrong. Jeffrey Zeldman. Dan Cederholm. And all the contributors to my blog.
Steve Pavlina. If he’s half as onto it as he blogs he is then he would be an interesting dude to have a chat with.
I would love to meet Michelle Malkin.
Heather Armstrong and Josh Spear
Scott Westerfeld, a young adult author; the guy who writes bigblueglobe and alternates between homes in Colorado and Antarctica; Clifford of Asymptotia because he’s fascinated by life; AJ from Effortless Language Acquistion because he’s often grouchy; Ayumi from Ayumi’s Every Other Day because she’s sweet and poetic; and Doug Johnson from the Blue Skunk Blog because he’s a visionary about education.
For me it would be:
1. Eric Sink. The first blog I’ve read. Great insight about things he write about.
2. Scott Berkun. He’s some kind of exemplar for me. The same area of interest, the same specialization.
3. Joel Spolsky. Although I don’t agree with him quite often, he’s another guy I learn from a lot.
I strongly believe a meeting with any of those guys would give me a lot both as a professional and in private life.
I’d like to meet 2 fellow b5 bloggers: Christina Jones and Liz Strauss. Both have been like a blogging mother hen to me. CJ has been encouraging me a lot and is responsible for motivating me. As for Liz, she has been there ever since our finefools and 9rules days; and now at b5, she still continues to give me advice whenever I need them.
and travel bloggers extraordinaire like Mark Ashley of Upgradetravel, YuhuStewardess and Teresa Valdez Klein.
I think my list would be:
You (Darren Rowse)
Jacob Gower
David Krug
Jeremy Wright
Michael Heilmann (Binary Bonsai)
and that is just off the top of my head. There are many others I respect highly and would love to meet.
I have already been fortunate enough to meet
Derek Featherstone
James Cogan
and Snook.
I would just like to meet 5 people in my immediate family and friends who share my interest in blogging
That’s easy – here’s my list of five:
Joel Spolsky – I truly enjoy reading his longer essays, the ones filled with thoughts about software development
Nicholas Carr – who has very thoughtful posts on so many different topics
Paul Graham – whose essays make me think (but also make my head hurt)
Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion
And of course, you! I’m a regular reader of this blog and enoy your posts!
[…] Problogger har listat de bloggare han skulle vilja tr�ffa i postningen: Which Bloggers Would You Love to Meet?. Faktiskt riktigt kul id�. S� – vilka skulle ni vilja tr�ffa? Jag skulle kunna skriva Sandra – fast henne har jag redan tr�ffat och r�knar stenh�rt med att tr�ffa m�nga g�nger igen. Och ML tr�ffar jag ju f�r fan varje dag :). […]
Heather Armstrong…and fellow Melbournite Darren, of course! ;)
[…] Which five bloggers would you love to meet? A question impossible to answer without offending the people I didn’t mention. Suffice it to say, if you comment on the blog I’d love to meet you. I’m not going to list you all because you know who you are. Plus I know I will forget people, not because I don’t love you, but because, well, I have the memory retention of a brain injured goldfish. […]
Well I do plan to be a full time onliner and my friends treat me as a weirdo… Gotta show them the blogger power!
Regards,
Lobster
Modurator of DTM
http://www.dreamteammoney.com
@dave in #8.. since you live in the philippines you could always join us for our blog meets. we do this informally over coffee / beer every week. we always welcome fellow bloggers!
since i have to limit this list to five, im not going to include the b5 founders because that would be a given already. i’d love to meet the following:
BRIAN CLARK – i come to his site daily to read up on the writing profession. it’s not just his advice, but the WAY he conveys his message. i want to see what he’s like in person.
JOHN C. DVORAK – they say that the cranky geek isn’t as cranky in person. i just want to see for myself. in fact i’d feel disappointed if he didnt tell me to scram :P
PETER ROJAS – pencil pusher? writer? editor? i want to see what makes this guy tick.
EASTON ELLSWORTH – knowmoremedia’s associate editor is young and talented. i’d love to have a beer with the guy
HUGH MCLEOD – is he a copywriter? a cartoonist? a creative director? this guy is a legend in my books and i want him draw a comic behind my business card :D
Mirror time – AVIF has been set up purely online and my 5 meetees would be :
1. Sharon Argwings-Kodhek, Managing trustee in Nairobi to thank her for all her support when things were going pear shaped on our first volunteer program.
2. Benson Anjere, to slap him, because he tried to ruin AVIF’s first volunteer program (my first taste of Kenyan corruption).
3. Job Manenga for running all the volunteers around Kenya and giving so much of his time to us.
4. Sean Parris of Manchester University who introduced me to Job (aged 24) and his father who run the Imani Agape Orphanage in Kisii, Western Kenya.
5. All the circuit riders on lasa.org’s lists who introduced me to Blogging, a curve I’m still climbing !!
which blogger would you love to meet?
Over at problogger There is a quest which blogger would you love to meet.
Personally I would love to meet the writer of the blog for he was the reason I started blogging.
I accidently stumbled on his blog one day searching for six figures.
I wanted to know what the range of money was and he had the top google article.
I read it hoping to find the numbers but instead I found he made 6 figures a year from blogging and blogged full time.
I would also like to meet rob benwell founder of the under ground club.
I recieve his news letter he is always coming out with products.
He was nineteen and need money or something like that so he made a few change to adsense and drove in a ton of money.
I would love to know his techiniques if only I had enough money to buy them.
Those are the two people I would like to meet they both got be pumped to blog.
sorry my link to my website was wrong.
Well, I´m just a beginner at blogging (and haven´t been reading the for too long either) but here´s a couple of people I´d like to meet.
1. Steve Pavlina – well, he seems to be a pretty amazing guy.
2. Shoemoney.com – have made a boatload of cash online. Would love to hear his stories and get some pointers from him.
3. Darren – because this site is such a great startingpoint for a blogger who doesn´t know where to go and what to do.
4. Kjell Häglund – this is really just for the swedish readers (http://www.weirdscience.se/). Awesome writer who really likes american tv. Just like me =)
[…] Who would they be? Darren has posted this question up on ProBlogger and this is a repost of the comment I’ve left. Since i have to limit this list to five, im not going to include the b5 founders because that would be a given already. I’d love to meet the following: BRIAN CLARK – I come to Copy Blogger daily to read up on the writing profession. it’s not just his advice, but the WAY he conveys his message. I want to see what he’s like in person. […]
Wow – I went unplugged a few days and came back to this post – I have to agree with you Darren on several of your choices (would have to add you to my list tho – and you know I’m not sucking up as I would love to sit down and talk both blogging and parenting with you!!). And how awesome it is to be included in two others’ lists! Thanks!! :)
[…] Over the last couple of years I have gone from a brand spanking new blogger to – well I don’t know just what I am now. I blog, yes, but have become more involved with the admin side of b5media as well, hence my sore lack of updating on this blog and the others I write). I really love supporting the writers and helping out with the details that everyone else hates to do. Patient, detail oriented – sounds like a former nail tech to me. Anyway, Darren Rowse, one of the owners of b5media and the inspiration and possibly the driving force behind what has made problogging what it is today, wrote the kindest thing about me over the weekend, and I like to keep these niceties for posterity (and let the 5 relatives that read this blog know about it…ha ha). Darren included me in 5 bloggers he would like to meet: Christina Jones – Ok – you’re all going to hit Christina’s link and wonder whether I’m a closet beauty product user – but it’s not the topic of her blog that makes me include her – it’s who she is. Christina is another b5 blogger/channel editor/project manager and is someone who has gone above and beyond the call. I admire her for many reasons but one of them is her ability to get things done. One of my many weaknesses is that I can be quite disorganized and impulsive – in this way CJ is my opposite. She’s also is compassionate, funny and passionate about the things she does. […]
Michelle Malkin. I’d like to boink her brains out. Awww!
There are way too many I’d like to meet so I wouldn’t want to take the chance of leaving any out. Yeah, I’ve got a memory like … oh, I forget …
I hope those of you who get the chance to meet online friends and those you admire have a similar experience to what I had in Seattle this year – meeting up with 20 designers I’ve known for years but never met. It was such a high (as well as being nerve wracking) to meet friends for the first time.
We’ve all been together through sickness and health, divorces, weddings, births, heart break, loss of jobs, new jobs, boredom and frustration … you name it. A chunk of us are very close friends, emailing or skyping daily/weekly, sending cards and gifts, etc. A handful in the group have worked on various jobs together.
And yes, for years we’ve all had to explain to those around about our ‘invisible’ friends who are in our daily conversations.
cat
Joel Spolsky
Any of those mad folks running 9rules – Scrivs, Rundle etc
Mike Davidson, Shaun Inman, and my namesake, Jason Santa Maria.
:-)
Easy! Heather Armstrong (Dooce), Andrew Sullivan, and Darren, of course! Cheers! –Shazzer
Easy! Heather Armstrong (Dooce), Andrew Sullivan, and Darren, of course! Cheers! –Shazzer
(Pardon the double post…I dorked on my own URL in the first one!)
My answer is here
Thanks for the question, it gave me a good topic for a post.
[…] ProBlogger Darren Rowse asks “Which Bloggers Would You Love to Meet?” and stirs up some interesting responses. […]
[…] ProBlogger Darren Rowse asks “Which Bloggers Would You Love to Meet?” and stirs up some interesting responses. […]
I’m slowly working through my list of those I’d love to meet in person. I’m up to three now and my list has to be about — oh so many. There are at least 10 b5ers Darren, Duncan, Jeremy, Shai, Christina, and my dear friend, Melissa (almost a year now), all of the kids from my writing neighborhood, Prince, Brian, Tony, Steve, Chris, Joe, Katie, Cat, Mike, Martin, and everyone who stops by Successful-Blog. I think about them even when I’m not online.
It will be nice a few years down the road when we could all meet “in person” using the Web – live videoconferencing involving dozens of people in dozens of different locations.
I’d love to meet these guys to just shake hands and say thanks for the wisdom and the laughs…
1. John Gruber
2. Darren Rowse
3. Cameron Moll
4. Merlin Mann
5. Andy White
I said why here.
1. Darren Rowse
2. Neha-within and without
3. Ravi- All about linux
4. Gina – lifehacker
This is going to sound like a little like comment spam, but I am extremely lucky that there will be a gathering next month in San Francisco of wine bloggers, and it appears that most of my personal list will be there! Web site: http://www.winetwo.com/
As a general comment – if you want to meet them, make something happen that they will want to come to, or be a part of that something, and maybe they will come! – j
[…] It’s late Saturday morning, and Darren’s got an interesting question up: Which Bloggers Would You Love to Meet? In addition to excluding his b5 co-founders, Darren limits his list to five, knowing there are way more than five he’d like to meet. So, following suit, I’ll limit myself to five… NOT! […]
I would to meet Seth Godin : )