Bloggers Get an A for Reciprocity

Let me first start out with defining Reciprocity. I'm cutting and pasting directly from the "Social sciences and humanities" section of the word in Wikipedia.

Social sciences and humanities

• Golden rule/ethic of reciprocity
• Norm of reciprocity, social norm of in-kind responses to the behavior of others
• Reciprocity (cultural anthropology), way of defining people's informal exchange of goods and labour
• Reciprocity (evolution), mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation
• Reciprocity (international relations), principle that favours, benefits, or penalties that are granted by one state to the citizens or legal entities of another, should be returned in kind
• Reciprocity (social and political philosophy), concept of reciprocity as in-kind positive or negative responses for the actions of others; relation to justice; related ideas such as gratitude, mutuality, and the Golden Rule (Ethic of reciprocity}
• Reciprocity (social psychology), in-kind positively or negatively connotated responses of individuals towards the actions of others
• Serial reciprocity, where the benefactor of a gift or service will in turn provide benefits to a third party

This is a handy dandy list of what we bloggers get! We get this concept. You will find that is why businesses want to work with bloggers to help spread the word of their product or service. Small groups of bloggers are formed to help get the word out about their posts using "ReTweets" on Twitter, "Like"s on Facebook, Votes on other sites, "I Like It!" on Stumble or thumbs up on You Tube. Bloggers understand how to help each other, how to highlight each other by using guest posts or featured bloggers. If you haven't been told lately let me be the first to say THANK YOU! I'm so glad this is the custom among bloggers. It's so nice to have the support.

Recently I've taken on a few new roles by becoming a virtual assistant, a social media strategist and a public relations coordinator for a few small businesses. In my experience working with 'non bloggers' in these fields there is not that sense of reciprocity. Some of the people maintaining these company accounts don't seem to understand this is how great networking really works. We help each other. We connect on another level and I'm so thankful for that! It would be great if more people engaged online with this concept. I have found that lots of companies will create a Twitter account and that's it. They don't engage or provide useful updates. Social media is more than just setting up an account. You have to manage it and get involved with the community.

Once again, thank you! Thank you to those bloggers who engage, network and get the true meaning of community.


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