Blog or to be blogged

I must admit that I'm probably the last person on this planet which is starting with a blog. I've written many pieces of text during my professional life, from management reports to company mails, newsletters and articles but always for a fixed or at least a largely known audience, but never in an open technology and a for an unknown public.

So why am I taking his "bold" step? Well because every day I get more aware of the networked society we become and the difficulties to keep "aligned" with all those virtual groups and communities. As always one needs a few triggers to get in motion. So here are my drivers to start blogging for Results2Match:

The Matching concept

Every business venture I'm involved with at the moment seems to focus around the concept of matching: know what is needed, know what is available and bring it together NOW. Of course the whole Results2Match idea is based upon matching solutions that resolve IT-related business process issues.
Another venture, which is currently in its preparation stages, focuses on finding and combining various pieces of technology so that the resulting combined solution exactly matches a specific type of market requirement . The format can be anything from an appliance to software-as-a-service, whatever matches best with the specific demands of the market.
And last but not least I’m currently involved with the company which probably makes the best smart search and matching software in the world (for those interested: www.wcc-group.com).

So far for coincidence….

The "Plaxo-experience"

Two weeks ago I finally agreed to accept an invite from a ex-colleague to become a Plaxo member. For years I've been quite careful in joining groups and sharing my details. Most things were either too commercial or too vague for me. In fact the only community portal I used is LinkedIn. It must be a dull weekend since within minutes of making myself a Plaxo member I was bombarded with invite mails to hook up with know and lost business friends. Automatically you are drawn to the log with all other traffic your contacts are involved with and before knowing I was sending out invites to many names I saw passing by. The amazing thing is that without searching specifically for people or former employers you are "on-line" with an instant community. But after (re-)connecting with all these good people the question pops: how to communicate with them without sitting behind a PC all day?

One of my contacts published via Plaxo that he started a blog…

Crossing the private borders

Blogs for me were always associated with journalists, analysts and artists (a lot of "ïsts" here). At least filled with information aimed at the public audience. A colleague from many years ago did sent me an email telling that a boss/friend of ours had been hit with cancer. After the initial shock I thought of contacting him. Knowing that he was a blogger from the early days on, I clicked to the link provided by my thoughtful colleague and entered the blog. This revealed a very personal, detailed and moving insight in the state of mind of somebody struck by cancer overnight. Although not my something I would do myself, it served for him the purpose of dealing with his disease.

Private diaries are not always locked away anymore…

Life is to short not to blog

Influenced by the above triggers, I concluded that we all match in a certain way at a certain point in time. Temporary because of a business venture, incidentally because of a joined history, instantly because of a joint interest or permanently by bonds of family or friendship. Publishing your thought allows you to reach out to all interested and to allow those who don’t want to read to pass.
I will be a regular blogger, like it or not! My chosen context will be the Results2Match community and my content will focus on the things I encounter working in that community. If that contents matches your interest, let’s create our own "Results2Match" experience.

Looking forward to your comments and ideas,

Hans{DOT}van(DOT)Nes@results2match[DOT]com