This post by Sam Lawrence is fascinating. He says:
I thought it might be pretty cool to copy an entire blog and then check out what someone's actual tag cloud was. That way, I could see the weighted topics most important to that person. So, I randomly chose a number of blogs I read and meticulously cut and pasted post after post. In some cases there were so many posts that I gave up after a month's worth. In other cases, I went further back.
It's sort of funny to boil people down to just few words. Once I generated each person's cloud, I'd note their top ten words, and place them next to their picture. Those words became a sort of micro vcard. I definitely learned a little more about each person.
In the same post, Sam says this about me:
No surprise that the word "enterprise" emerged for Dennis. Though in his two-word view, it was all about the "enterprise irregulars." Interestingly, so did the word "customer base."
I can't imagine the amount of work that went into extracting all this data but it is interesting to see yourself 'boiled down' in this way. As Rabbie Burns (I think) said:
I wish the Laird the gift he gee'us
To see oorsel's as ithers see us
...or some such. It's a saying my parents instilled into me and yet it is something at which so many of us are woefully endowed.
Sam's on a roll. He's working out how to engage certain people and provoke certain thoughts as part of a subtle brand building exercise. At least that's what I'm seeing as I peer 'between the lines.' It's a very smart move on his part because it gets attention, and for all the right reasons. Heck, he's appealed enough to my ego to get em to devote an entire post to this rather smart visualisation. The previous day, he Tweeted me to say I would feature on his blog. That's always a worrying prospect, especially when you've no idea what the other person might say or do.
At the same time it provides Sam with insights into what is of interest to particular individuals over time. Of course that emphasis might change but as a rule of thumb, it works nicely. Think about this when you're next meeting someone. What might they discern from what you are saying?
PS - I'm looking forward to meeting Sam in a few weeks. It will be fascinating to see how the man lives up to the blog. I'm rarely disappointed.
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