The very first thing I would like to say and get the ball rolling for 2012 is NOT ‘Happy New Year’ as I know the new year will be a happy one to all the Radical Nation; But ‘Thank You’ for the tremendous year 2011 became. Geoff, you and Maha were key to letting me grow in ways that I’m sure will pay big dividends in years to come; And the rest of the Nation gives me the inspiration that even when all the chips are down (and the bag lays empty) there is always a reserve set aside for one more massive attempt at success.

For the first page of 2012, I would like to start and plug my Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/thedanieljsmith as this year will be the year of the v-log. Geoff has shown me that sometimes you just have to get the point out verbally when you have something to say, rather than write it down when the moment and the train of thought is gone.

Secondly, I would like to take a couple of paragraphs and talk about followers in Social Media; how do you get them and how do you keep them. Anyone who has a Twitter or Facebook account sets in motion a communal effort of networking which is used correctly will let the exchange of ideas both flow and grow. However, the best thing about a truly original community is that you don’t have to pay any more for the followers than respect their point of view, contradict if you can see a better way, and with luck, mutually allow the new community to grow like a spider-web (exponentially and outward) until it returns home where it started.

If you would like more details on the simple way, check out a video made by Recruiting Animal a short time (sourcing term) ago at http://youtu.be/5MbJHqXxPO0 for tips on the very subject of Twitter.

Whatever the format, whatever the network of socializing you choose- It only costs time and continuous effort NOT Money. If you have to pay then they aren’t really followers, just another number. Its not a contest of ‘Who has the most followers’ but rather ‘Who interacts with others who have similar interests the best’. Do I follow everyone?- mostly due to SEO I get those I can relate to with very little spam. Do I expect everyone to follow me whom I invite? No- but I do expect that those who follow me will mutually share in thoughts and opinions that are new and unique, not the same old banal blah, blah, blah.

Respect others and respect the media which you are using; and respect that everyone has an opinion to share, link up with the cool kids and over time your community will be the one to belong to. After all the time working on mine, and with much love and respect to the members, I know there is a lot more work to be done and a lot more to be shared before the journey can truly be called ‘done’.

Hook up with me here, at my Youtube Channel [please subscribe and leave me some topic matter for future videos (hashtag it #sourcapprent—so I know it’s a future topic)] or on Twitter @thedanieljsmith or on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/iamthedanieljsmith (always looking for like-minded friends) or look for me alongside Geoff, Maha, Johnny and Jeff as the Radical Nation takes on the world later this year.

Time to go practice my cowbell….

Daniel J. Smith / The Sourcers’ Apprentice