Monday, July 27, 2009

Social Networking

I started this blog almost 2 years ago because I wanted to find "my people"—those who love to work with handtools. (Also because my partner, in a desperate attempt to free herself from listening to me drone on and on about woodworking, begged me to.)

In the process, I've made lots of friends, connected with people in other countries, been directed to places, links, and adventures I might never have discovered otherwise, and learned a ton of new things.

Then I joined Facebook and Twitter and made even more friends and contacts.

As advertisers and marketers are scrambling to find effective ways in which to make use of social networking, many of us have experienced immediate benefits.

Fellow blogger, Rob Giovanetti, The Tatooed Woodworker, recently decided to distance himself from blogging and the entire woodworking community because of some very nasty emails he had received. Several people wrote him to reconsider.

And then it hit the Twitterdom.

Twitter was ablaze today with people in support of Rob, including people who had never read his blog. Twitterers passed his link to their followers and they passed it to their followers, and so on and so on.

Consequently, Rob has been getting lots of positive comments on his site and I'm hoping he's feeling the love.

Social networking is a lot of things (including the reason I spend too much time on the computer). You hear about the latest tools, see others' projects, learn new techniques, get ideas, share information, and as long as you avoid lightning rod topics like politics, religion, hand tools vs. power tools, and the reason for the nib on a handsaw, you can find a fabulous community—your people.

20 comments:

rgdaniel said...

Thanks for contributing to his return. I hate when the bad guys win!!

Kari Hultman said...

Fortunately, the bad guys are in the minority. :o)

Ralph Bagnall said...

Kari,

Another great blog, thanks!

Ralph

JimK said...

Thanks for bringing his blog to my attention. It would be a shame to lose another valuable resource.
Keep up the good work Kari. I enjoy it.
Jim K

Nick Brygidyr said...

so just because he got a lie-nielsen tattoo all those kids went off on him? sheesh!

rocking R rustics said...

What is that nib for........lol

Frontier Carpenter said...

I’ve never seen The Tattooed Woodworker Blog but I will look it up!

I thank all those who take the time and effort to produce the many Blogs I follow. I get a lot of enjoyment and inspiration from them. After starting one myself I now realize the amount of work that goes into them

Christopher said...

Kari,

I've been reading your blog for about a year - it's great.

I'm finding that the signal-to-noise-ratio on the various woodworking forums has become too low to be of much value. Blogs seem to be a bit more focused and useful.

Has there been much of a movement among bloggers to come together to create some sort of "meta woodworking blog", or do you think that would be contrary to the spirit of the format?

Anyway, thanks for all the good info.

Kari Hultman said...

Christopher, there are some woodworking sites that track posts from bloggers. www.unpluggedshop.com is my go-to site for many of my favorite blogger updates. You can also check www.norsewoodsmith.com.

Anonymous said...

several years ago i cut down a lot on message boards about my hobbies. I found that i was spending more time messing around on mesage boards than actually doing the hobby. Of course I'm following blogs instead now :)

Farms100

InsideBevel said...

I have a similar experience...I seem to spend more time reading about woodworking than actually diong it... :-O

Jeff said...

Truly, the ability to interact with people that share your interests is one of the coolest things about the internet. Except that for me, it's actually increased my woodworking by laying bare some things that I might've taken longer to get around to.

Speaking of which, thanks so much for your lettering vids! They totally rock and helped get me off my butt and get carving. Love the blog - it's one of my daily pleasures.

Jeff

Kari Hultman said...

I've been trying to cut back on the time I spend on twitter, facebook, and reading others' blogs, but I hate to miss out of stuff!

Jeff, I'm going to try to do another two videos on lettercarving. One that covers angled cuts and grain direction and one that covers curves.

Mario said...

Love your blog, actually look forward to read it every day and find some new inspiration. Don´t know how you build projects and write but keep it up!

David Barbee said...

In the last year I have been to two events where someone was passing around tools to let folks take a look at them. Were not talking cheap tools...I'm talking about hand planes worth thousands of dollars. I heard someone in the audience ask, "Don't you worry about one of those planes walking off?" The presenter relied, "Not really, I have found that woodworkers to be a very trustworthy group of people." That sorta took me by surprise. How often do you hear that about any group of people? As expected, all the of the tools were returned to their owners.

I'm sure most folks have heard about Chris Schwarz having a Wayne Anderson Chariot plane stolen at a show. I would imagine this would be a tragic event. At the Popular Woodworking open house a while back guess who was passing his new Wayne Anderson replacement plane around to the crowd. As I'm holding the plane it struck me how much faith he must have in fellow woodworkers, especially considering his recent loss.

Its a shame that Chris and The Tattooed Worker have both had to struggle with negative comments and emails. When you get messages like that its hard to keep your perspective. Recently I believe both men had to start moderating the comments on their blog. I hope this trend fades away soon. Blogs and forums are some of the greatest resources available to those of us trying to learn.

David

Docwks said...

Some guy in 1724 said how can I really mess with my future woodworkers? hmmmmm....I know and the nib was born. ;-)
Bill

Kari Hultman said...

Mario, thank you! I have lots of free time because I don't have kids and I ignore the weeds. ; )

David, I agree with you about woodworkers—they do tend to be very trustworthy people and some of the best people I've ever met. The baddies are definitely in the minority. The ones who leave nasty comments, I think must have a screw loose.

Mr Bill, that is the BEST explanation I have ever heard for the nib!

Myeloman said...

Kari,

Thanks for turning me onto his Blog. I have just sold the bulk of my power tools in preparation for a cross country move from Michigan to California (long story) but I still have ALL of my hand tools and look forward to getting the new shop operational and turning out some beautiful pieces.

I went through a situation somewhat similar to his when I was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer and had to leave work. It is amazing how people can choose such moments to try to kick a person when they re at their lowest... I look forward to reading his blog as well as yours now.

Best of luck to you both in the future and keep on keeping on!

Tracy.

Donp said...

This may or may not be on topic. Dos any one know why Tom Fidgen has not posted in a month?

DonP said...

Please disregard last comment. Just got an Email from Mr Fidgem. All is fine.