Enjoying a good reputation.
Yesterday I blogged about the MSDN Connection programme and mentioned that I thought that it would be a good thing to get involved in and today I thought that I might expand upon that a little - just so that I can't be accused of being a .NET shill! :-) But seriously, many people have asked in the past how it is that people become MVP's or ASPInsiders or whatever, and it got me thinking...
While there are many benefits in "getting involved" the one that I'd like to focus on today is Reputation.
Community involvement means that other people have the ability to get to know you and to know a little bit about what sort of a person you are. It therefore stands that the people that get to know you will be able to provide advice to others as to who you are, thus verifying your online credentials and increasing the value of your profile/identity. It stands therefore that your opinions may carry a greater weight (potentially) than the opinions of somebody who is totally anonymous.
There are many other benefits to involvement - such as having better access to current information and being in a position to influence decisions, but I see Reputation management as an emerging area. If you'd like to learn a little more about this area you can read an article by Jakob Nielsen which foreshadows this topic:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980208.html
Increased reputation is - for me at least - an enjoyable side-effect of getting involved in programs such as MSDN Connection.
Finally, in thinking about the topic of Reputation I turned to a quote from ^Zhurnal for some insight into as to how Reputation can help us reflect on who we are:
A person is told s/he has an incurable disease and will soon die. Abruptly, life changes! Some items become trivial, unworthy of a human's time; other things take on utmost importance. Family and friends, formerly ignored, are now precious jewels. Reputation moves to center stage. The edge of the universe jumps closer ... perspective shifts ... lights go out ... the fog thickens ... and every moment sparkles.
This quote serves as a reminder to me that I should keep a good perspective on what it is that I am doing today.