Using Twitter to Scale Caring

What is the real power of social media for today's enterprises? According to self-made wine guru, internet icon, and entrepreneur extraordinaire Gary Vaynerchuk, it is all about the ability to scale the way you care.

I've been a fan of Gary V. for a while. He first came to prominence by doing a once a day internet TV show where he talked about wine (and life), affectionately known as the Thundershow. But while trying to figure out what goes with fish might have brought people in the door, what really built Gary's brand was his passion, enthusiasm, and willingness to go the extra mile to engage with his viewers.

Indeed, unlike many, Gary has always refused to see engaging with his audience - whether the tool was Twitter Search or Blog search - as somehow separate and distinct from his "real work." As he tells it, every person who has given him advice has told him it's simply not scalable to engage with all the people who talk about him and his work on line, yet for him, it's a gift to live in a time where he actually can interact and engage with the people who care enough to pay attention to him.

Check out this talk from the 140 Character Conference, an industry event about Twitter.

There is a reason that Gary V has hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and a seven-figure, ten-book deal with HarperStudio. While he may be brash to some and over the top to others, it's pretty hard not to watch the guy and recognize the authenticity and earnestness that drips out of him. In a world where so many people are trying to sell us things, that feeling of honesty is precious.

But it's more than that.

His whole mantra is about doing what you love, yet recognizing that there is no substitute for hard work to make it work. In another keynote, this time at the Web2.0 Expo, he pleaded with the audience to "stop doing s--t you hate," and instead, find a way to focus on your passion.

This mindset - about finding what you love, working hard because you care, giving a crap about what people have to say and what they think - is the exact opposite of the mindset that drives the asshole leadership that I wrote about yesterday. Whereas that leadership is routed in a fundamental distrust, disinterest, and devaluation of others, Gary's brand of inspiration and action is all about affirming that what people have in them is good, and they should work even harder to bring it out and share it with the rest of us.

(Photo: affiliatesummit)