The Wonderful Web

Pajama Blogger

Tweetups, Meetups, conferences and twittered invites are opening up the doors to pajama bloggers. Blogging in one’s pajamas is a stereotype, but like most stereotypes it is grounded in at least some element of truth.  I like my pajamas and I am quite comfortable blogging in them, but there is something missing when we live our lives behind a computer screen. The explosion in social media offers a bridge  for bloggers to interact in meaningful ways both on and offline.

I acknowledge that I am probably more prone to hiding behind the computer monitor than many, due to a physical disability. Living with MS has eroded my confidence in the physical world, so I do most of my interacting with the virtual world.  But, I am not alone. Yesterday morning, Liz Strauss posted about pursuing dreams and visible authenticity, using Susan Boyle’s audition video for Got Talent? as incentive to  look beyond. My comment  sparked a lively discussion on her blog and on Twitter about how  a lack of self confidence can imprison us and how little steps can free us to show ourselves with our authority and integrity.

Attending a tweetup can be one of those little steps.  Tweetups can be spontaneous or planned in advance.  A spontaneous tweetup occurs when someone tweets “hey I am downtown and hungry, who wants to join me for lunch?”  Take the opportunity to eat your lunch somewhere other than in front of your computer today. Tweet ups can be fun, they can be educational, they can help you make connections and they can inspire you with new ideas for your blog posts. Tonight, I will be attending a scheduled tweetup with Social Media Club Seattle and SEOMoz at a local brewpub. The conversations around the tables may be about social media and search engine optimization  but I already know that @simchabe and I are going to be talking about wine and FareStart.org because we initiated that conversation on Twitter.

Participating in social media exposes you to other opportunities to connect. In the Blogging Basics class, I have my students read Eugene Cho’s post on why he blogs. This session in particular the students have been interested in his work so I decided to follow him on Twitter. His tweets about Jesus wanting to dine with us, piqued my interest. The Easter service was at a school to accomodate the crowd so I knew it would be accessible, so I decided to attend. I often feel isolated because walker + service dog = seating in the back, out of the way. But, here people escorted me thru a shortcut door, made sure that I was settled and retrieved a program for me. Although we had not met, Eugene made a point to greet me. During Communion, the sacraments were brought to me. I had several invitations to stay and enjoy the communal feast afterwards, even though I was too tired to stay. Now you might expect that in a church setting, but just because you expect something doesn’t mean you will get it. But, by following twitter updates and blogs about a person or organization you can get a pretty good sense of what you might be getting into before you venture forth.

I will be attending SOBCon 09 this year. Traveling to Chicago for a convention is a big deal for me and I definitely have some anxiety. I used to speak present at state and national conventions but that was a long time ago, I communicate via computer now not lecterns. But through Pathable, LinkedIn, Twitter and their blogs I already “know” some of the people. I have a roommate that met via Twitter that is not only sharing the expenses with me but has also volunteered dog walking and support for my service dog. My students raised the money for me to attend this conference via my blog and their own blog posts.  I will be going there in person to bring back the information to them via my blog and lessons. I might be blogging about SOBCon 09 in my pajamas, but more likely live from the conference.

How was social media gotten you out of your pajamas?

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