Super Nodes
March 3rd, 2008 | by Brad King |I’m prepping for SXSW, which basically means scouring the social media sphere for parties, events and happenings. The key is finding the “supernodes,” the people who are most connected to other people so that you can easily navigate to the happeningest of happenings.
It’s strange, too. You begin to feel very connected to people who you have never met. For instance, I was just on Upcoming, Yahoo’s scheduling software which has become the defacto technology for the conference.
Aubry Sabala is one of those folks. I’m not even sure what her job is, but she works at Digg and when you trace her through Twitter, you begin to see a connecting line of the Who’s Who of the social media sphere.
She’s by no means the only one. Dave Winer. Veronica Belmont. Jon Lebkowski. Heather Gold. These are a few of my favorite supernodes.
Which brings us to the news. Organizations need to begin courting these people for a new, non-traditional style of news reporting, one that doesn’t involve column inches and page views. One that involves creating community around events that are happening…everywhere. These supernodes are the key.
As Howard Rheingold Twittered a few days ago, the power of the early adopter is the chance they have to become a supernode. (I have butchered this quote in my paraphrasing, but the idea is there).
