Online “Influence” Scores Are Irrelevant. It’s about the People.

How do you manage your online experience? Are you more concerned with getting the highest scores you can on the social influence sites… or are you in social media to connect with people?  Do you can check in on Foursquare, check TwitterGrader, buy Groupons, try to raise your Klout score or sell your “social stock” on Empire Avenue? If you aren’t connecting with the people, then it is a lesson in futility.

Behind every screen is a person, who wants to connect. We spend hours and hours of each day behind computer screens, mobile devices and televisions.  Sometimes, they are so concerned about connecting in the screens, that they miss can out on real life offline experiences.

“Now is the moment of power.”, or “Manawa“.as they say in the ancient Polynesian philosophy called Huna. I rarely mix my spiritual thinking with my tech thoughts, but in this case, I feel that it is important. Recognize that we only have this moment, and that your walking around with your face in your phone is fucking annoying.

Now, is the only time that we have, so if you are around real people, interact with them! And if you are driving, put down your phone, at LEAST OCCASIONALLY.

How many of you have had the opportunity to go to conferences and meet the amazing people that you’ve connected with online? For those fortunate enough to go to the cool conferences, you can be amazed finally putting a face to the avatar and a real life connection with people you “met” online, 1000s of miles apart.

It’s about the people. At one of these conferences, Web 2.0 expo in San Francisco, I met the director of emerging media from 360i in NYC. We had a great face to face real life discussion. It was funny seeing most people walk around tweeting, updating statuses and texting and not connecting with people right near them. But, we kept in touch. BTW, this guy is the person who hooked me up with my Google+ invitation. [He may have given me my Google Wave invitation, as well, but I won't hold that against him.]

Tonight, I saw one of Tamar Weinberg’s posts, [another TW, I might add], and she mentioned how she met someone offline, and has been helping him online… which is awesome of her. But, he has been too busy tweeting and checking in on foursquare… and not responding to her job assistance. Plus, the dude is currently unemployed. Yeah, he is too concerned about growing his Klout score so he can get a job, than actually talking to someone who is trying to hook him up with a job.

When we blog and tweet and socialize/whore ourselves out there in the interwebz, it’s important to remember, that it’s not the platform, the tools or your online influence score that matter. It is the connecting with the people. Not to sell them, but to authentically connect. To help. To share. To teach. To care.

We are on this Earth for a very short period of time. Let’s not waste it on worrying about Klout scores and what our social stock is worth… let’s connect and help add value where we can.

Are you authentic? Do you care about the people? Because, that’s what matters.