I didn’t get the job I thought I rightly deserved. Afterall, six months before I was pretty much told that I’d be a good fit for the job and that it would be a natural progression for me. And for about six months, social media became 75 percent of my job. When I was told that someone else would get the job, it wasn’t a surprise — it was probably about six weeks after I had been “interviewed” for the position. While I was mad, my anger was geared more toward how it handled. While I wanted to spit fire and do other regrettable things, I took a deep breath and changed. I accepted it and went on with my life and my career. It was a waste of my time to be mad at anyone and possibly burn bridges. Oh, and I intensified my job search elsewhere.

Oddly enough, the job that I landed came to me thanks to knowing certain people. But, unfortunately to some people, my new job is two hours away in Lynchburg. The decision to take it wasn’t easy, but my wife and I both like the Lynchburg area. I have my roots there; she thinks of it as her second home. And it’s not like I’ll never be back to Richmond. My sister lives there; my wife will continue to do business there; and, as a runner, I’m sure I’ll be back for something.

So now I have this blog as “Richmond Editor,” but will soon be completely gone from Richmond. I’ll change the domain name sometime, but will probably get back to focusing on editing, writing, social media, etc. A lot of that may depend on what my new job becomes — my title is chief copy editor. I’ll be editing … a lot. So in my spare time I might not want to talk about it. But that’s a good thing.

I initially created this site in April 2008 after losing my job. I had an idea for it that never transpired. Then I started blogging more when my job no longer focused on editing — I love editing. I like writing. My previous job focused too much on writing. My new job will focus more on editing, but I’ll still be able to write. I think it’ll be the best of both worlds.

So who knows what will become of this blog or my random thoughts. I just thought that it was time that I gave some insight into why I was leaving Richmond for those who have asked me about it on Twitter. I know I’m still being a bit vague, but I think that’s only fair to me, my previous employer and my current employer.

For those who have read my few posts on here, I just wanted to say thanks. I hope you’ll continue to read once I figure out what I’m doing with it!

So instead of an overall recap from me in addition to my two posts while I was there, I’d like to link to other blog entries that reflect my thoughts and capture many of the highlights.

* Why Social South Worked, from Direct Marketing Observations
* Five Favorite Things …, from Spaight Talk
* What Rock Stars Can Teach You… , from Mack Collier
* What to Look for When Hiring a Social Media Manager, from Tom Martin
* Social South Wrapup, from Raven Internet Marketing Tools
* How Social Media is Changing the World, from Jason Falls

Jason’s entry on social media changing the world was truly the highlight of the weekend as it focused on Saturday’s keynote speaker, Esra’a Al Sahfei. His blog captures the presentation very well.

For more on Social South and links to other great blogs, visit socialsouth.org and check out the #soso stream on Twitter that remains active three days later.

Earlier this year Tom went to Mardi Gras to tweet about the experience there. You can click here to read the background on his Mardi Gras experiment, which was, simply, to change people’s perceptions of Mardi Gras. Since I’m a bit short on time, I’ll just let you know this — the experiment worked. You can read more about his experience here on adage.com

For more about Tom, visit his Facebook and Twitter pages. You also can find out more by sorting through the #soso stream on Twitter.

So today I find myself several hundred miles from home in Birmingham, Ala. at Social South, a two-day conference about social media. I’m probably in competition for being the farthest away from home, but that doesn’t really matter. In fact I’m surprised more out-of-towners aren’t here. This is some good stuff. I could probably have a different blog entry and analysis from each discussion I’ve attended, but I don’t quite have time for that, at least not right now.

The day kicked off with an address from author Andrew Keen, who really challenged the group of about 150 or so on what social media is. Someone next to me said Andrew was like the Simon Cowell of social media — it was a good comparison, especially since I appreciate Simon Cowell’s honesty. Andrew posed some excellent questions we all need to think about — is social media getting rid of the concept of time and geography? Does social media make the world flat? In short, social media is replacing conversations people used to have at the corner store. Well, being 31 and part of Generation X, I don’t really remember having conversations at the corner store and my parents and grandparents don’t really talk about how much they used to hang out at the corner store.

Andrew says social media is creating personalized universes. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Through social media I can chat quickly with others about running or the Dave Matthews Band or … social media. Andrew says social media is creating radical individualism and is leading to inequality, such as people having a million or more followers. He’s right to a point, but don’t more than a million people watch Oprah every day? A million people is a relatively small number in a country with more than 300 million people and a world with billions of people.

I’ll have more to discuss later … for now I should pay attention to the current discussion going on! If you’re interested in what others are saying, follow the #soso discussion on Twitter over the next couple of days.

I met Helen Thomas at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Helen was the first female officer of the National Press Club.

In my short nine-year career span, I’ve been lucky to meet some interesting people or at least get very close to them to take some good photos. As a journalist, I’ve met local congressmen, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and now U.S. Sen. Mark Warner among others. I’ve covered one NASCAR race where I snapped some great photos of drivers such as Carl Edwards and Jeff Burton and literally sat about 15 feet away from the media table. As a fan, that experience put a totally different perspective on racing.

Last year I took photos at an event where now President Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton both spoke. When you put it all together, that whole six degrees of seperation thing really makes the rest of the world seem so small. But have you ever thought of how closely connected you are to the past? How many people have you shook hands with that connects you to people no longer here, who then connect you to a deeper past.

In my current position in the public relations world has led me to meet some interesting people, such as wrestler Mick Foley, but yesterday I met THE DEAN of the White House Press Corps … the one and only Helen Thomas. THE Helen Thomas who, just a few days ago, turned 89 and received cupcakes from Obama (who now pretty much ignores her in press conferences). It was a privilege to hear her speak for a few minutes. And it was amazing to see the respect that many in the small gathering had for her. As a former journalist, I’ve always been indifferent toward her, but since meeting her yesterday I’ve thought a lot about those six degrees of separation to the past.

Helen has covered every president since John F. Kennedy. Assuming that every president shook hands at some point with the previous president in office, the six degrees to past presidents for me now goes like this: me-Helen-JFK-Eisenhower-Truman-Roosevelt. I’m sure if I spent a day of research I could figure out a link to go back to another president or two. A lot of people may take that for granted, but I certainly appreciate being that close to so many U.S. presidents.

For truckers, I am sure this is a major inconvenience. Rest stops are just that for them – it’s a place to rest. With the closure of the rest stops, getting off the highway becomes a major issue with a lack of parking at many areas. It also presents a safety issue – instead of stopping where they usually stop, they might just press on a little longer. That could lead to fatigue, which could lead to a major accident.

For everyday drivers, though, is this really a big deal? While I travel three of the states’ interstates, I vaguely remember stopping at rest stops. If it’s really early in the morning or late at night, I feel safer stopping at a Sheetz or a McDonald’s to do my business. I’m not really “resting” when I stop. And the way this state is set up, I would image many everyday drivers are doing the same thing. It’s not like there are huge gaps of nothingness out there, with the exception of I-85.

Interstates are an interesting problem for states, not just Virginia. Unless it’s a toll road that has weird guidelines grandfathered in with interstate “rules,” rest stops cannot be commercialized and operated by a private entity. Essentially interstates are federal mandates actually paid for with mostly federal money, but it’s up to the state to maintain them. And the rest stops fall under state control, but federal rules don’t allow businesses to set up on a limited access exit to the rest stop.

(To understand the interstate system, click here to check out the Wikipedia entry. Not that I like Wikipedia for all the facts, but this entry does a pretty good job explaining how they work.)

I travel the Pennsylvania Turnpike about three times a year and it’s so nice to have a commercialized place to stop – there’s enough grass for my dog to do his business; the restrooms are generally clean; they’re open 24 hours a day; there’s decent food; and there’s plenty of parking for truckers to rest. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is an exception to the interstate rule (see that Wikipedia entry for an attempt at an explanation), but is it right for Virginia? If I managed a Sheetz in, say, Winchester, but a commercialized rest stop opened up 20 miles south of me, I’d probably be upset. That’s a lot of business probably lost. Or is it?

When traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike there are still plenty of places to stop if I wanted to. I just never have. However, prices on the turnpike are ridiculous – gas is more expensive; a slice of pizza is higher; and my travel necessity of sunflower seeds are about twice as high. I choose to pay for the convenience. If a rest stop was set up like that in Virginia, I’d probably do the same. It really comes down to a personal decision.

After all this I have a formed a relative middle-of-the-road opinion about the rest stops. I hope they reopen one day with a good plan in place. I don’t want to see them reopen for the sake of reopening. Clean them up a bit; make sure the water works – give me a reason to pee there. For now, have fun venturing off the interstate to do your duty.

“You where to funny”

“…is finally done with school, now on too working on grad school stuff …”

“Who needs sleep I have coffee.”

“Gonna go get some groceries I guess yuck would rather be at the pool!!!!!!”

“well talk more about it saturday”

“Thanks 2 all 4 all the prayers” (I didn’t know people still actually typed like that …)

“getting off work early to start the weekend hope everyone who is lucky enough to still have their father (like me) remembers them Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful hubby Art-yes you will be treated like a king this weekend”

“I can’rt beilve it”

“I’m so sorry I misse you guys on sunday! I was really looking forward to seeing ya! It’s been way to long..we’ll have to plan something soon..REALLY!”

“I am to through with this nonscence.”

So, I guess you should consider me out of touch since I am just now writing about Tuesday’s Social Media Club event in Richmond (known on Twitter as #smcrva). Honestly, though, I don’t have too much to say. The concept behind the Social Media Club is great. And I had a blast meeting lots people I have only come to know virtually.  The panel discussion was great too – it was a nice mix of traditional and non-traditional media, although the Times-Dispatch was missing. As a former journalist, I enjoyed listening to it and thought it was a good discussion.

It’s a discussion, though, that needs to be taken to all TV and newspaper newsrooms across the country. Most on the panel get it … NBC 12’s Ryan Nobles understands that he needs to stay ahead of the general public on news, but at the same time he gets that being on Twitter is a part of his news gathering every day. He also understands that these tools are ways to get people to show him that he’s a real person.

When I was working in newspapers, I struggled with that. The general public doesn’t get it – they think we’re robots or something and have no feelings. Sure, most of us have thick skin and can take the brunt of complaints. We learn that people rarely have anything nice to say when you do good work. We learn to live in a silent world when others around us know who we work for.

But social media is changing that, and I think that’s something journalists and former journalists can appreciate. “Thanks” is only six characters and takes a second or two to type.

In addition to Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles), I’d like to give a quick shout-out and Twitter link to the others on the panel:

* Jason Roop @styleweekly – editor of Style Weekly
* John Sarvay @sarvay – of Floricane Consulting and Buttermilk & Molasses
* Rachel DePompa @RachelDePompa – reporter for NBC 12 (who I actually used to watch on WDBJ 7 when I lived in Lynchburg)
* Ian Graham @IanGraham – director of new media at RVA Magazine
* Aaron Kremer @AKBizSense – editor of richmondbizsense.com (who joined Twitter the day after the meeting)
* And the Science Museum of Virginia @ScienceMusofVA deserves a shout-out for hosting the event.

Want to read more from my review of the new album from Dave Matthews Band? Click here to check out my DMB-related blog.

* * *

Am I the only one tired of Follow Friday on Twitter (#followfriday #ff)? I started thinking about it today, and it seems like Twitter has no leaders … we’re all followers, but we’re all trying to say something. I know many people, including myself, are listening, but I don’t know if I like the direction it’s going. Otherwise silent people have a lot to say, but aren’t listening to others around them. Does this make any sense?

***

Next week I am attending Richmond’s Social Media Club event at the Science Museum of Virginia. This should be a lot of fun to put some faces with these names I’ve come to know on Twitter … maybe this will be a chance to see if they’re paying attention or just following.

And, by the way, the right word is “lightning.” Drop that e!