#FF

@RobDrabkin @nhso @ripple100 @andreayap @AmyDesmarais @jwierin @shesosocial @JaymesGrace @timtracey @followcb @MatthewBrowning

It may seem strange to include @RobDrakin, an obscure rock musician from Denver Colorado and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra which has been performing in New Haven for over a century, but there is actually an important theme.

Recently, I wrote a blog post entitled High Speed Social Fiber. It was about New Haven’s efforts to be a test bed for Google’s High Speed Fiber project. I mentioned how @andreayap and @ripple100 have been working with others to promote New Haven using social media. I suggested it is strengthening the social fiber of New Haven, whether or not New Haven gains the benefits of Google’s Fiber.

Thanks to Andre and Ripple100, a group of people interested in the use of social media to strengthen the fiber of communities attended last night’s performance by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. It was a great performance.

As I listened to the majesty of Beethoven’s Eighth and Ninth Symphonies, I thought of the themes running together; starting in the violins, echoed in the basses, taken up by the horns. It reflected, for me, the nature of social media. While there is something beautiful about a solo violin, or a single message online, there is also great beauty achieved when the message or theme is repeated and moves from section to section. It applies to a symphony of social media as well as it does to a classical symphony. The folks that Andrea and Ripple100 gathered for the symphony last night are some of the best performers in the social media space.

So, what does this have to do with Rob? He, like Katie Garibaldi whom I mentioned last week, is a young musician who is using Twitter to promote his music. Will he join with other online musicians to create some sort of new symphony of social media? I hope so.

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