Jan 12, 2009

"Knowing Armano" on Daily Fix


Another week, another Daily Fix article. This one stemmed from a conversation Ann Handley (the editor of Daily Fix) and I had about what it actually means to "know" someone these days: can we actually know someone we've never met and does the fact that people are adopting that nomenclature have ramifications for brands:

Last week, David Armano, a well-known blogger, prolific Twitterer, and real-world friend, did a very noble thing: with just one tweet and one blog post, he harnessed the power of his 8,000+ member Twitter network and raised close to $20,000 for Daniella, a woman fleeing an abusive husband. The effort was notable for many things, foremost among them being how quickly the money poured in: I believe the first-night total was somewhere around $15,000. It was a wonderful, feel-good moment and David was justifiably moved by the response.

But there was something else that struck me about all this: How many of the people who contributed that first night cited “knowing” David as the reason they felt comfortable donating money. And what struck me was that in reality, few of them actually did know him. At least not in the traditional sense.

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