I believe that I am not modeling the uses of my network that I actually use my network for. If I have created my network, I have done it wrong. Let me clarify further…
I model the link dump quite often by connecting my delicious feed to twitter. What I actually want is conversation about those resources. I model the connection of all spaces, when I actually only want to connect with an individual. I model the information overload that I actually seek to stop it. This is not okay.
Mostly, it is not okay because I am not being a good steward of my network. I am not “being the change” in the way that so many of us talk about doing it. This is not okay.
If I am a node of my network and if I am responsible for the connecting of other nodes to myself, and the further facilitation of the other nodes that need to be connected. I must make the effort to establish connections that are not based upon what I think will happen in the future. I need to stop making those connections based upon how it is that I want the conversation to occur after my link dump happens or after my thought travels through the tubes I have created for it. It is simply not okay that I have created a network that I don’t want to be a part of sometimes. I am what is wrong with my network.
The connections I have made are too important to squander them. They are too valuable to waste on what doesn’t matter. For those people who want to connect to my delicious, let them do that there. For those who want to follow my questions and conversations, let them do that on my blog and through twitter.
My network has been hijacked by advertising for things that don’t give life to my network. They may lead to the ReTweet, but they certainly don’t lead to a novel idea that will change my practice. Knowing that more things exist doesn’t make my network better. Knowing who people are and why they are passionate and what kinds of questions they are answering… that is what leads to a better network. I am my network and my network is me.
