People who will be missed

From time to time people I met using socia media announce that for a period of time, they will take a break away from the keyboard - it could be due to vacation, business trips or simply that they need a break.
And in that situation it is often seen that they are met with the obligatory greeting that "we are going to miss you."
And that's all very good and polite, but sometimes it is difficult not to think: how many of these people would you actually miss, actually and for real, if they all of a sudden disappeared from your screen due to a decision to go sheepfarming in the Outer Hebrides?
I am of the firm conviction that it is not 20000 followers on Twitter that will make me a happy social media user. No - what makes me a happy Twitter user who feels that he gets something out of his online presence are the approximately 20 people that I follow, and who follow me, who are engaged in two-way communication, where we are able to inspire each other.
These are the people to whom I would any day write that I am going to miss them. They constitute only a fraction - very few percent - of my Twitter followers, but they make a difference far beyond average and prove that quality is preferable to quantity any time. Because we are able to inspire each other.
(Translated from Noget om savn)

On the topic of (never) failing inspiration

It happens so often that one sits staring at the flashing cursor - or, for us who are a little old-fashioned, the blank page - and blame oneself for the failing inspiration. Or even worse: blame the inspiration itself for its absence.
There is no reason for it - because we are very able to influence whether or not inspiration comes knocking. We can reasonably be sure that if we just sit and look at what we have not done - then inspiration will not come. But if instead we go out to seek new impressions; find something we can wonder about; and let go of our minds - then inspiration has a chance to find us. It does not have to be moving further than to social media to seek other people's input - an act that can suddenly move from procrastination and waste of time to be an excellent instrument to launch creativity with.
It may happen that we end up with quite a lot of effort needed to put the inspiration into words - but I would venture to insist that we never need to be at a loss for inspiration.
(Translated from Noget om (aldrig) at savne inspiration, originally published January 9, 2018)

Fishing and followers

After spending some time on Twitter, I have now started to notice a regularly repeating pattern. Followers coming out of the blue - without me really understanding why I should be of interest to them - following me for a couple of days and then disappearing again.
I have gradually come to the conclusion that they just come by to fish for followers - and since I'm not interested in following them, they simply disappear again.
It is probably very good that it is this way. Because I'm not the type who mindlessly follows people because they follow me. I follow people whose tweets can inspire me when they appear in my Twitter feed. Just like I hope people follow me because I can give them inspiration when I appear in their Twitter feed.
In particular, I appreciate people with whom I can engage in two-way communication - be it on Twitter or elsewhere - so that it can provide inspiration, food for thought and value to both parties. I would rather have five such followers than I would have 5000, who just come around fishing for me to follow them.
(Translated from Fiskeri og følgere)

Honestly, did you even read it yourself?

I came across some scary statistics the other day - Washington Post brought some recent research from Columbia University and INRIA, the French national institute for research in computer science. According to the article 59 percent of the links shared on social media are passed, without the person who shares them has ever clicked on them - in other words: we make things viral without ever having read what it is all about.
It is basically the old point made by Nicholas G. Carr proven once again: the internet does not do any good to the way in which we get informed.
There'll be those people who find that their time is too valuable to read something that happens to be of interest to other people - but on the other hand, if it is important enough to contaminate others social media feed with, the forwarder should probably also be able to find time for it.
I will not pretend to be holier-than-thou. Occasionally, I forward something after having only skimmed it - but then it is only to individuals, and only after having skimmed it thoroughly enough to be reasonably sure that the recipient will be able to use it for something. I am simply too old to fancy the thought of answering the question: "Honestly, did you even read it yourself?" with a "uh, no ..."

(Translated from Helt ærligt, har du overhovedet læst det selv?)