100 Brains: Thinkers and tinkerers in social business

By | September 1, 2010, 5:47pm PDT

Summary: Starting this month, I will post frequent interviews with 100 people in my network who I believe fit the “thinker” and / or “tinkerer” mold. These are people with amazing brains.

The summer has been quiet over here in Social Business land, but the quiet has given me time to become inspired to embark on a new editorial project. In thinking about all of the social media news from the last few months, I also started thinking about a lot of people behind the news. The thought leaders, if you will, and those folks on the front lines of social media, have differing yet equally compelling stories to tell. Then there are the folks on the sidelines, and by sidelines I mean those who do not make social media their focus but still use it in interesting and innovative ways. These people all have amazing brains, and I’ve decided to pick them.

Starting this month, I will post frequent interviews with 100 people in my network who I believe fit the “thinker” and / or “tinkerer” mold I’ve described above. My lofty goal is to publish all 100 of these before the end of 2010 by early 2011. While there might be some crossover questions, I will largely tailor the interviews to focus on each person’s individual strengths and expertise. This is such a diverse group of people and I can’t wait to showcase all of their talents.

A sampling of participants includes:

  • Michael DiLorenzo, NHL
  • Cathy Brooks, OtherThanThat
  • Tim Westergren, Pandora
  • Maggie Fox, Social Media Group
  • Adam Ostrow, Mashable
  • Jess Berlin, Cirque du Soleil
  • Kyle Flaherty, BreakingPoint Systems
  • Sarah Molinari, Home Depot
  • Paul Mabray, Vintank
  • Scott Monty, Ford
  • Rachel Happe, Community Roundtable
  • Brian Solis, FutureWorks
  • Meg Fowler, Social Media 4 Social Change
  • Dennis Crowley, Foursquare

And many, many more.

I have 70+ people committed thus far. If you have suggestions of other “brains” I should consider, email through the form below.

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Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues.

Disclosure

Jennifer Leggio

Jennifer is employed full-time with Fortinet, a leading network security appliance vendor. She is also actively involved in the network security community and works with the Security Bloggers Network. She co-manages the annual Security Bloggers Meet-UP at RSA Conference.

Jennifer is also involved with Silicon Valley Tweet-Up, a philanthropic networking event that brings people together to raise money for local family-oriented charities.

The blog posts here are solely her opinion and do not represent her employer or any other organization with which she may be affiliated.

Biography

Jennifer Leggio

Jennifer Leggio (@mediaphyter) has been a communications professional for more than 15 years, focusing primarily on enterprise technology and security. She is currently the director of strategic communications for a leading network security vendor. Jennifer is also passionate about all things social media, especially enterprise, security, privacy and reputation issues, which is why she writes about these things for ZDNet.

A well-connected communicator, Jennifer has led or supported interactive social networking efforts for security industry conferences including RSA Conference, Black Hat USA and SOURCE Conference, and founded the Security Twits, a community for network security professionals. She also helps run communications for the Security Bloggers Network.

Finally, Jennifer co-hosts the Quick'n'Dirty social media podcast with Aaron Strout, is a founding member of Technically Women, a communal blog project, and manages marketing and public relations for Silicon Valley Tweet-Up, a networking group that raises money for family-oriented charities. Jennifer was profiled in Silicon Valley San Jose Business Journal's "40 Under 40" edition, as a rising star for 2009.

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