I said before that there's plenty of information in today's digital age. In fact I think there's too much information.  It can be hard for us to keep track of all of the data that we see on a daily basis.

One of my favorite things to do used to be scrolling through one of my social media feeds. But times have definitely changed. I will not tell you that my leisure time now includes watching sitcoms or even listening to the radio but I can't say that it may not be as technologically advanced as you think.  

I actually prefer to listen to a podcast and go for a walk or do some basic household chores more than anything these days. I think the reason why is that my brain loves diving deep on specific topics but it does not enjoy the overwhelm of too many topics.

What does your brain like?

Are you the type of person that enjoys scrolling your social media feeds and finding out what's going on in everyone's life or at least what they want to tell you? I'm not here to criticize that I'm just here to say there are other things that you can do to pass the time.

The Benefits

I think I'm done bashing social media and the power of the Internet. It's now time to talk about the benefits. The primary benefit of the Internet’s social technology and the immediate access to information is that we can gather data concepts, theories, hypotheses, and other pieces of information from many sources in a very short period of time.

It's up to us to slim down or filter what we take in.  

There's a term floating out there in cyberspace I've heard a lot recently and that is “curation”.

I looked it up and the primary definition is as follows:

The action or process of selecting, organizing, and looking after the items in a collection or exhibition.

I think that’s appropriate, but the tertiary definition is actually what we're going for in the E-Impact Blog.  Here it is:

The selection organization and presentation of online contact merchandise information etc. typically using professional or expert knowledge

That's it! We're selecting expert information. We're placing this above all the other information in our library of value. And what makes us impactmakers is not that we have this information, it's that we find the information, credit the experts that distributed it, and then we give it to the rest of the world.

Positive impact is not just about you.  Truthfully, it's not about you at all. It's about those you serve.

Are You Serving or Swerving?

Admittedly, I kind of just like the rhyme of that subtitle. Have you seen some of those social media freestylers? I got one for you, check out Harry Mack.

While I'll never be a lyrical genius my hope is to reach toward genius status in service.

I fear that many of us might have great intentions when we take in information these days but it's just too easy to not have a focus.

What happens when you lose your focus while you're driving?

You swerve. Unexpected things can happen.  

The other day, I was on the road and I felt like I was paying great attention but all of a sudden, a plate came off of the truck in front of me and started rolling on its edge.  By the time I realized it, it seemed just a few feet away.  It was practically unavoidable. 

To be honest I don't know if I ran the plate over or not, but what I did realize, is that it wasn't glassware. It was just styrofoam.

I didn't actually have to swerve out of the way for a soft plate but it was safer to do that then to risk running over glass.  

We have left it up to applications and social platforms to decide what we run over next. The entertainment we get from an application like TickTock is extremely reliant on very powerful algorithms. I wrote about this concept in my book, “Personal Finance in a Public World”, and while this text is certainly not about personal finance, the same concept applies.

If you think of your digital content journey as if you're driving, you're really just swerving wherever the algorithm tells you to and in some strange way you actually dictate where it tells you to go. The artificial intelligence is able to determine what you are prone to craving.  Then it feeds you more similar contact.  A company can promote and praise how powerful its technology is to improving your entertainment value. However, I believe in our positive work as impactmakers we cannot rely on what is designed to solely entertain.

Fix It

It's a strong statement but I believe that most of us are doing a lot of serving whether we desire to serve or not.

I think if we actually knew what true service was we would be more likely to do it.  Impactmakers would be better at leading the people that they do, and people who aren't impact makers (or who don't believe that they can be impact makers) would be more likely to take up a cause.

We know that impactmaking is not about changing the whole world.  It's not about being recognized for what you do.  It's about using the gifts and talents that you've been blessed with to make someone else's world better.

Social media, the Internet, and the meta-verse (or whatever Facebook is going to be called in the future) all pause the message which indicates that you are the center.  Don't mistake what I'm saying.  You should be the center of some parts of your life.  It would be foolish to think otherwise.  But, you are NOT the center a positive impact.

No good organization for profit or nonprofit revolves around one person.  It's not sustainable.  It's also not healthy for that person.  

Don't be that person.

And that my friends is how you fix digital swerving.  It's that simple.

Correct your course by identifying a small list of topics that are most important to you.  When you're in impact making mode and curating content for positivity, everything and I mean EVERYTHING must pass through that filter.

If you're not in impactmaking mode, that's fine.  Rest and leisure time is valuable.  See E-Impact 69 for how and why to take a nap.

Do It it For Others

If you're motivated to do something great you should be able to overcome the desire to swerve.

Remember that you're doing it for others.  

You are truly an expert in gathering knowledge and identifying what's most important about a specific cause.

The third definition of Curation stated above tells us that we are uniquely qualified to bring a complicated source and volume of information to the masses in a more easily understood way.

Make no mistake that curation is not easy.  It's not simply an appendix or a website with links to a bunch of other websites.

It's a well-thought-out process by someone who cares deeply about something and wants other people to have as much relevant information on that subject as possible.

We cannot expect other people to be as enthusiastic about our causes as we are.  Otherwise, it would also be their cost and they will also be curating.  

The best businesses may make a lot of money and they may hire great people but what is most important is that they are providing something incredibly valuable to their customers.

In the case of curating valuable content related to your cause, consider yourself a business and the people you're speaking to as your customers.

Ask yourself these three questions:

1. What information do people need to understand the foundational premises of my cause?

Customers have to understand the product.

1. What's going to make it as easy as possible for these people to internalize the concepts?

It has to be simple for customers to acquire the product.

1. What's going to keep them coming back?

We want repeat customers.

Great Business

When I was a kid I used to love Burger King and McDonald’s.  The reason, though, you might not expect.

Honestly, I really didn't like the food and I know my mom wasn't too hot on the nutritional quality of those establishments.  I'm talking about the same mom from the October 27, 2020 E-Impact Blog entry.  Ironically, the main story from that entry is about her driving.

The reason why I was so interested in those two fast food burger joints was because of the toys you would get in a Happy Meal or King Jr. meal.

In another twist it wasn't actually the quality of the toys that I was interested in either.  

It was the collection of a series.  It was about getting every piece in the series.  I want it all the entertainment or all the information, if you will.

McDonald's and Burger King ran and still do run great businesses.  We can talk about the quality of the food and attritional value of their meals all we want but they didn't have an effect on the psychology of a young boy in the 80s.  

I’m no expert on psychology and marketing like my friend Joe Nolan from Jono Marketing (he was also a subject in my book), but I would venture a guess that today's tactics are also just as effective.

People want all the information. 

Everyone can understand my original premise at the beginning of this entry.  The amount of information is overwhelming and it is that fact that prevents people from getting all the information.  

You, impactmaker, are going to curate all the relevant information to your costs and provide it to the right people, giving them the entire collection.

Don't swerve.  Serve.