Social Media, the chicken-shit way:

Walk around an event with my Squee-PC out and wait for people to talk to me because I’m too shy to talk to them.

Hey, whatever works!

Update: So far, it’s worked 5 times in about 10 minutes.

Another update: Okay, it worked about a dozen times in total.

So, I’ve been trying to integrate myself somewhat into the Vancouver blogging community, which seems to also be the Vancouver Social Media community. I don’t really see myself as much of a social media person, but I came to a startling realization tonight:

I spent a good part of tonight in a room jam-packed to the brim with other people, walking around with my SqueePC out so I could check email, Twitter, my blog, and Flickr all at the same time. If that isn’t social media, I really don’t know what is – while I’m still working on the whole “social” aspect of things, I certainly have the “media” down to an almost obsessive neon T.

So, yeah. I made me laugh at myself.

In addition to the make-people-talk-to-me-via-tiny-computer method of interaction, I also recruited Gill for an experiment tonight – we deposited our Moo cards on various tables at the event. I’m thinking about suggesting this for the next big nerd shindig, but almost everyone I know has Moo cards or some variation of – and doesn’t do much with them. I’m a hearty example of this, as I have three sets of business cards and at least two sets of Mini cards. Why do I have them? Well, in addition to being in love with seeing my name and photos in print, I got them so I could trade contact information with people. Here’s the catch, though – I’m almost pathologically shy around people I don’t know; the very people I would want to be trading contact info with. As it stands right now, I give my Moo cards to people who already know me. That isn’t exactly the point, so I propose doing this:

To anyone who has Moo cards but routinely forgets to offer them up for trade and/or hand them out, period: start leaving them lying around. It’d be cool to have a table at these fancy social media events where people could just leave their Moo cards and pick up someone else’s – follow a URL, check out some photos, email a stranger. Obviously you’ve been in the same place as that person, so let’s take it one step further and maybe e-meet the people you didn’t get a chance to meet in person. That way, chickenshit people like me can still stay within the relative safety of our own social circles, but maybe get to check out a blog we hadn’t known existed.

Or maybe I’m the only one with this neurotic fear of meeting new people.

Anyway, I have Moo cards. I want to trade with people. Give me your Moo cards. I have no use for a hundred cards with my own contact information; I know who I am. Who are YOU?

If anyone got here because they picked up one of my cards at the BarCamp party, hello!

I will stop talking now. I think I absorbed a lot of Gill’s beer through osmosis and am drunk by association.