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When a friend of mine asks to be introduced to another one of my friends, I usually never think twice about it and I just make the introduction. I have no issues connecting two people who are friends of mine to each other. And many times I have been the one who made the first move in introducing two friends of mine to each other.

One thing I would almost never do is introduce a total stranger to a friend since I generally wouldn’t want this happening to myself.

As Social Networking continue to grow, one concept that many people fail to recognize is that in real life “an introduction is an endorsement.” And this is something I continue to take to heart whenever I’m online. I believe we have a social obligation to respect our friends on social networks and resist the temptation of introducing our friends to people whom we don’t know just because a social networking platform makes it easy for us to do so.

But while I would not be the person to introduce a stranger to a friend, as far as I’m concerned, people shouldn’t be shy in trying to make a direct introduction on behalf of themselves. What is the worst thing someone can do? Ignore your request? As long as the person sending email to me isn’t yet another college student asking me to help them write their term paper on disruptive communications, I’m generally pretty good at replying to email requests from people whom I have never met.

How about you? Do you also look at an Introduction as an Endorsement? What is your criteria for playing the role of connector?

Tags: social Networks, linkedin, Jeff Pulver

Please consider leaving a comment. Share a thought. Share your experience. And feel free to find me on twitter and continue this conversation.

“You have to be in it to win it” - NY Lotto

There are times where you need to put yourself into the mix in order to take advantage of opportunities. Sure, there will be times in your life where an opportunity will seek you out. But for all other times, if you are not around, that chance meeting isn’t going to happen. This is why I make an effort to put myself out there, go to a variety of events, hold meetings in the lobby of certain hotels and why I make an effort to host my own networking events and encourage people to connect with each other.

This is what I call “Putting Yourself in Motion.”

Recognizing this is one thing. Being able to act on this while overcoming your own inertia is the harder part. At least it usually has been for me.

But whenever I’m feeling a little lazy, I remind myself we often need to leave our comfort zones, challenge ourselves, and push ourselves to the edge in order to take advantage of chance opportunities.

“Sometimes you can influence chance by playing along”

Looking back, many opportunities happened because I was in the right place at the right time. Some may consider this being lucky, something which I would not deny, but why not empower yourself to be lucky every once in a while? Why not put yourself in play and put yourself in the right place at the right time too?

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How about you? How often do YOU Put Yourself in Motion? What would you advise others to do?

Tags: Entrepreneurship, leadership, Entrepreneur, Jeff Pulver

Please consider leaving a comment. Share a thought. Share your experience. And feel free to find me on twitter and continue this conversation.

When you find yourself searching for answers and/or direction, while it is easy to ask others for advice, sometimes the harder thing to do is look deep inside yourself and act on what your gut says the answer is.

My friend Joe Mazzeo has an expression: “Shut your f**cking Ears, Listen to Yourself!”

And I think he has a point.

I believe that most of the time we know what it is we need to do. We may lack the confidence to go forward and do it, but we know in our gut what is needed to be done. I know, as I’ve been there myself.

And whenever I ask myself a question and I get conflicting answers from my head, my heart and my gut, the times I have gone with my gut have been the times I have been the most successful.

How about you? How often do YOU listen to yourself and taken action? What have YOU learned from this?

Tags: Entrepreneurship, leadership, Entrepreneur, Jeff Pulver

Please consider leaving a comment. Share a thought. Share your experience. And feel free to find me on twitter and continue this conversation.

Earlier today, SemantiNet announced the funding of their $3.4 million series A round.

I’ve known SemantiNet since early 2007. I’m a friend and a fan of SemantiNet co-founders Tal Muskal and Tal Keinan. During my visits to Israel I have met with quite a number of startups and of all the companies I’ve met with and know, I believe SemantiNet has what it takes to be a leader in the world of the Semantic Web and one day may be known as the Google of Israel.

The buzz for SemantiNet will begin when they launch in late September.

I feel very fortunate to be one of the early investors in this company, together with Yossi Vardi, Sir Ronald Cohen and Giza Venture Capital.

Tags: SemantiNet, Semantic Search, Giza Venture Capital, Jeff Pulver

Special thanks to Debi Zylbermann of Debi’Z for sharing and capturing the information I shared at the recent Amuta 2.0 meeting in Jerusalem.

Notes from my talk at Amuta 2.0 for Not-for-Profits Learning about Social Media

(Looking back at these notes, much of what is shared below can also be applied to almost anyone, (and any company) who may be getting started in social media and not just not-for-profit organizations.)

Social Identity - use the same identity on all your social networks, make it easy to find, and use your organization’s name.

Get into Twitter - Use Twitter to promote your events.(During the talk I explained why I feel twitter is the two-day radio of the Internet).

Your message - you are responsible for your organization’s message, so keep it consistent.

Your community - discover and nurture your community.

Giving - success on social media is all about giving. Give 95% of the time, and you get the “right” to ask 5% of the time.

Mailing lists - Before you look to social networks to join, if you have something interesting to share, send it to your mailing list. If it really is interesting, people will forward it to their friends. (You can also nudge them and ask them to forward!). email is the first layer of your social graph.

Your Passion - one of the main ingredients in leveraging the social web, and promoting your organization.

Fear, Greed, Disruption - When you are up against larger organizations, you need to invoke these base instincts, otherwise people won’t listen Sometimes we need to re-think the way we do things. Just because we did it the same way for 50 years doesn’t mean it is the right way or the way it should continue to be done. These are times where we need to disrupt ourselves and our companies.

Your Voice - You have the power to effect change. Make your voice important, use your blog, Be remarkable.

The 3 R’s of Social Media
- Respect you earn in your niche;
- Responsibility to be a good person in that niche;
- Reputation - how you define yourself and how you are defined.

”Friend Sourcing:":
Facebook Status - update your facebook status, it can get you help from your friends. I gave an example of once when he needed to get hold of Leonardo Decaprio, and managed to do that in 2 days by asking for help in my facebook status.

Use Twitter. These are two mean tools for getting help (for the 5% of the time that you earned it).

Giving, Part 2. - Give tools to people who want to promote your work and organization. “some of them want to use you, some of them want to be used by you“

Video - Use Internet Video platforms - YouTube, Qik, BlogTV to get your message out and communicate with and engage your community.

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These are the highlights of the points from my talk from Amuta 2.0.

If you are a not-for-profit organization looking for ways to better leverage social media please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to connect and see how I might be able to help you with your social media strategy. And if you are a Not-for-Profit with a social media success story, please feel free to share it.

Tags: Jerusalem, Israel, Amuta2.0, Social Media, Jeff Pulver