The amazing power of the social network, conversational and community aspects of blogging were made vividly clear to me with my second post on this brand new blog of mine, when I pinged a Shel Israel post and got a really nice welcome to the conversation mention on Shel's blog. Suddenly I am a participant in the conversation, which existed before my entry and will exist long after I'm gone. It's validating and a reality check at the same time. Being open, transparent and prepared for criticism is one of the tenets of the social media world. And attention, while nice, is also fleeting. I have often worked away on my ideas in isolation, collecting data, writing a paper or report, refining it before delivering the final product. I like that my ideas and point of view benefit from the scrutiny of a self-selected community of experts who can be anywhere. It is clarifying and I believe it will produce a better product.