A few weeks ago I wrote about Aaron Strout moving from Boston to Auston (or #bostontoaustin, as Bryan Person tagged on Twitter).

In that post, I compared Boston’s social media scene to a sports team, with superstars, utility players, and rookies. One thing I didn’t do was tell you where I see myself within with these descriptions.

I’m no rookie.

I’ve been involved in social applications on the internet since before the term social media was created. From my beginning participating in, then moderating, and finally running auto-enthusiast forum communities, to creating DesignBoston over two years ago, to SM4SC, maneuvering social media isn’t new to me.

Nor am I a grizzled veteran.

Sure, I’ve been involved in social media in one form or another for years. But by no means do I consider myself a veteran in this field. Every day, I’m excited by new developments in this field. New applications. New forms of communication. We’re still in the infant stage of this industry, and I’m ready to be a part of this for years to come.

I’m not a superstar, either.

Both of my blogs get decent traffic, but not enough to brag about. I don’t have a huge following on Twitter. I’ve only recently started doing public speaking.  I know my stuff, but I’m by no means a star.

I’m a utility player.

I have experience, but also the enthusiasm of a rookie. I’m confident about my skills, and I’m willing to share what I know with those that don’t. When a big name player leaves our ranks, I do what I can to bring myself up and help fill the void.

What about you? Where do you see yourself in the social media lineup?

I have.

Walking down the street, there’s a lightness in people’s steps. They’re smiling more than they were a week ago.

America’s high.

High on hope. High on change.

On that note, I’d like to share something. My friend and coworker Danielle sent me photos from a rally for Barack Obama that exemplify the hope that we’re all feeling right now.

One of the things that struck me as most amazing about his victory was to the degree to which it proved to be our victory.

It’s been a long time since a candidate united people the way Obama has. And the way he united people — using the tools of social media — is just as amazing.

Over nearly 22 months, the Obama campaign has used technology — Email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter — to build a database of millions of ordinary Americans… Americans that were excited and willing to help make a difference.

And are still excited and willing to help.

This morning, Christopher Penn tweeted something that got me thinking (Not a terribly rare thing: this financial guru spouts wisdom on the regular):

I thought about what this could mean for our country… to have millions of people working to make America a better place. I envisioned something similar to what our grandparents did 75 years ago to get through the worst economic crisis in the nation’s history — but in the Digital Age.

And so I gave it a name: the Digital New Deal.

Think about it: what if — like FDR controlling road and bridge construction projects from the White House — President Obama could guide a volunteer work force.

An army of helping hands.

Using the connections that he’s already established, (I honestly get more text messages from him than I do from some of my friends) he could mobilize a disaster-recovery team, a clean-up-the-parks team, a let’s-make-this-a-better-country team… all as quickly as he can send a text or an email or a tweet.

I don’t know about you, but I’m proud and excited for what lays ahead for this country like never before.

But it’s going to take work. Long, hard work.

Are you ready to get to work?

I have way too many thoughts flowing through my head right now. All I can say is, Congratulations, Mr. President-Elect.

Photo Credit: ©2008 Tracy Lee Carroll

Maggie likes food. She regularly tweets what she is cooking, or ordering out. Let me say, my two weeks of at-home cooking can’t compare to what Maggie prepares.

A little over a year ago, Maggie started Eat Boutique “to celebrate exceptional food experiences derived from entrepreneurial spirit, pure ingredients and great service.” She writes about everything from her experiences at various “indie” restaurants around the world, to her purchases at local farms and farmers markets, to her elegant tabletops.

Eat Boutique is growing, and Maggie is looking for help. She’s already brought on two other writers, and she’s looking to add more.

If you’re a “food fan” - someone who enjoys and likes to discuss restaurants, recipes, farms, food experience, and the specials bits of life that happen around food - from anywhere around the world, give Maggie a shout. Maggie says you’ll be paid w/ bylines & dinners on her for now, and by money ASAP.

Bon Appetit!

The emails that come in show the URLs of the links in the comments. In a few emails this week, I noticed those URLs were from some pretty popular social networks.

The first one I noticed had a list of links from Bebo, the most popular social networking site in the UK. The list of URLs, offering all sorts of free porn, would otherwise appear to identify a female member of the Bebo community, save the numbers at the end - an almost sure giveaway that the profile on any social network is spam. I typed in one of the URLs and it went to a Bebo profile - with a link to another, not-so-family-friendly site.

Today, a blocked comment had links from My Mashable, the social network from Mashable.com, offering Accutane, a drug for acne. Even though there were many options, each link led to only one page. That page is down now - kusos to the Mashable team for removing the spam profile within hours.

I’m not trying to suggest that either site is responsible for the comment spam, and don’t think that these are the only two sites that spammers are jumping onto.

The praise a social networking site receives for its growth - as Bebo has received - rings hollow when it allows spammers to create fake profiles. Bebo, My Mashable, and other social networking sites need to do a better job to keep these types of profiles from being created in the first place.

I haven’t experienced any false profiles on Facebook. (I’m sure they’re there, I just haven’t seen any) Is Facebook doing something that these other sites aren’t that is keeping the spammers away? What do you think can be done to keep spammers off of social networking sites?

Remember playing telephone as a kid? Social media can be kind of like that.

Thomas Keown started One Home Many Hopes, a nonprofit organization that is working to improve the lives of girls in Kenya.

“One Home Many Hopes” is a loving home for orphaned girls in Mtwapa, Kenya. It provides former street children with a nurturing environment, focused schooling and a chance at a healthy and productive life. Known in Kenya as “Mudzini Kwetu”, our philosophy is that education and family support are the most effective ways to lift our children out of cyclical poverty.

Thomas has an idea for raising funds for OHMH through social media. His friend Vanessa Leong reaches out to the Twitter community to help Thomas. Shelley Greenberg sees this, and contacts me, knowing I’m all about using social media for social change. Vanessa and I connect, and I’m struck by this cause and want to help get the word out, so I agree to write a blog post for them.

Which brings us to now. Pretty cool, right?

One Home Many Hopes has started a campaign - dubbed ‘Race to 20k’ - that is looking to raise $20,000 in 30 days.

The Race to 20k was inspired by Riziki (pictured above). The local police found Riziki and her sisters living on the street after their mother had died. Because there’s nowhere else to put street children, the police threw them in prison. Thanks to OHMH, she was rescued with her two sisters. All the girls are now living at the home and Riziki has grown into an adorable 3 year old.

Ambitious? Yes.

Worth it? Absolutely.

Doable? Completely.

What’s the plan?

If 1,000 people donate only $20, they’ll hit their goal. The problem is, how will they find those 1,000 people? Using traditional means of communication - without an Easter Seals-sized budget - it would be very difficult.

But by blogging, tweeting, posting it on Facebook, and talk-talk-talking about this incredible organization, we’ll hit that goal of $20,000 in 30 days.

Why do they need the money?

“While Mudzini Kwetu’s [What OHMH is called in Kenya] current surroundings are adequate, it is imperative to plan for the future and ensure the well-being of the girls there now, and the girls who will need Mudzini Kwetu  someday soon.”

How do I get involved?

First and formost, visit OHMH’s donation page and pledge your $20.

Beyond that, write a blog post. Tweet. Do all the social media-type things you do regularly anyways, but let people know about this great cause. Get the word out. Be a part of the chain of voices finding those 1,000 people.

See? Just like playing telephone.

It’s the late 90s. I was working at Verizon (then Bell Atlantic) in a 700-person customer service center.  One day, as with the thousands of calls I took in the two years I spent there, I answer a call with the standard greeting that I can recall to this day: “Thank you for calling the Bell Atlantic Residential Sales and Service Center. My name is Gradon Tripp. May I have the telephone number you’re calling about, starting area code-first.” The reply caught me off guard.

“Holy shit.”

Pardon me, sir? He introduced himself, said he works for a publishing company, and they just released a novel with me as the main character.

In The Wonder Boys, written by Michael Chabon, and the movie that followed (starring Michael Douglas), Grady Tripp is “a former prodigy, a pot-smoking philandering middle-aged novelist who has stalled on a 2611-page unfinished opus title The Wonder Boys.” (That’s from the back cover of the book)

Seeing as I’m only now in my early thirties, have never been labeled a prodigy, don’t smoke pot (or philander), this Grady Tripp is not me.

But still, whenever people ask me about the book, or the movie, I reply, “I have, and I’m still waiting for my royalty checks.”

Photo Credit: SIUE.edu

Last Thursday night, a bunch of us from the Boston-area social media scene got together to welcome Ken Burbary to town. That was the original plan, at least.

A few days before the Tweetup, Aaron Strout let us know that he’s leaving Mzinga, and Boston, for a position at Powered in Austin, TX.

So we had a dual-purpose Tweetup: To welcome Ken to Boston, and to congratulate Aaron and wish him well.

Aaron leaving Mzinga came as a shock to many. The bigger shock, though, was how he could leave Boston?

However, Aaron isn’t the type of guy to leave a good position, sell his house and move his family halfway around the country for just anything. I remember him telling me several months ago that an opportunity would have to be huge for him to leave Mzinga.

Aaron is going to be the head of marketing at Powered, a company that “provides a way for consumers to engage with brands on their terms — and in a way that the consumer values, not avoids.” Sounds like a great match for Aaron.

But what of Mzinga? Aaron, along with Jim Storer, has been one of the biggest personalities at Mzinga. Jim will fill in for Aaron nicely, along with Alexa Scordato.

And Boston? With the exodus of many social media personalities - including Scott Monty, Bryan Person, John Johansen, and Kyle Flaherty - from Boston, there’s a growing hole in the Boston social media hierarchy.

Sure, we have superstars like Chris Brogan and Laura Fitton, and a slew of rookies - recent college grads with a load of potential. What we need are utility players, those social media people that may not have a big name, but have enough knowledge to stand up and be a leader in the community.

So, to Aaron, best of luck to you and your family in Austin. And to all you Boston social media peeps, do you have it in you to be the next leader?

My parents live in Florida, so we don’t see them very often. As a present for his 70th birthday, my brother-in-law took my father to Newfoundland on a moose hunting trip. Successful after just a few days, they returned to my sister and brother-in-law’s house Petersham. (For comparison, Petersham has a population of 1,180, less than 1/10th that of Charlestown).

My brothers and sisters made plans to meet on Sunday for a belated birthday party for our dad. Great! Except for one thing.

I don’t own a car, and there are no subways or buses that reach little old Petersham. My attendance was questionable.

My dad had a great idea: I take the commuter rail from North Station to Lowell to pick up the boys like I do every Saturday, but instead of heading back to Boston, Dad picks us up and drives us out to Petersham. We spend Saturday and Sunday together.

Yeah, my dad’s a smart guy.

Smart isn’t a word my dad would use to describe himself. He says he’s not smart, he just thinks about stuff.

My dad is the best kind of Bostonian. He’s an old school Bostonian.

He grew up in Arlington. Not the money side of Arlington, either. His father worked at MIT; not a professor or an engineer, he actually built the Van de Graff Generator that sits in the Museum of Science. My father’s mother cooked things like liver and onions, and dumplings, for no other reason than that’s what they could afford.

Every neighborhood I’ve moved to in the three years I’ve lived in Boston, my dad knows each neighborhood, along with the bars of infamy within each. He has countless stories of fun (and fights) at these places.

No, he’s not an academic; he took a few college classes, but realized that wasn’t for him. He got a job in a machine shop because he was good with his hands and it was a decent paycheck. He left that machine shop the day he retired, 45 years later.

Growing up, my dad would always tell me, work with your mind, not your hands. He knew what I was interested in, even if it wasn’t that way for him.

He’s humble. I sent the photo above to Meg, and she replied, “Wow, he’s a looker!” I told that to my dad, and replied, “Yeah, well she needs glasses then.”

He reads more than anyone I know. Right now, it’s “The Brothers Bulger”.

His first marriage (where 5 of my siblings came from) didn’t last, but that didn’t stop him from recognizing and welcoming love when it presented itself. My parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary last month.

He’s not afraid of opening up his home to kids in need. He and my mother took in my sister and me, two survivors of a horrible tragedy that would surely resonate through our lives. Four years after taking us in, and one year after adopting us, my parents took in my little brother, another foster child with a traumatic childhood.

He’s a survivor in his own right. He has already had two spots of melanoma removed, and fought and beat prostate cancer.

He’s a senior citizen by age only. At seventy years old and retired, he works two jobs, cleaning pools and landscaping, back in Florida. He does it to help the old folks, he says.

He says he’s like a shark, when he stop moving, he’ll die.

He’s healthier than me (and probably you). During the last day of their hunting trip, they walked twenty. two. miles. If he can walk 22 miles in one day at 70 years old, he’s got it in him to live a good, long time.

My father is an amazing man. From everything I know of him, of his character, of the way he treats and provides for and protects his family, he is who I want to emulate.

He is my hero.