If we all work together, we can beat this reality thing!

Now this is the one I was really looking for.  Since I'm a personal blogger, I really like the local community connection.

Kevin is echoing my sentiments, since he's not from Bloomington, it's hard to make the connection.  And one thing I've realized a lot, is that there's little overlap between IU and the rest of the community.

Yay, Twitter!  Personally I think Twitter, and especially Kevin's efforts, has been a wonderful connection to the Bloomington community.

Ning is another good resource for finding local bloggers.

And here's another mention of LinkedIn, especially joining groups.  I probably need to use that more.

I'm noticing that getting readers is a common topic that keeps coming up today.

There is a difference between the people living in Indiana and blogging, and people blogging about Indiana.

Back on the topic of Twitter connecting people.  I had a similar experience to Noah(?) on Twitter, with Twitter bringing us together.

Dr. Thomas Ho (?) used Treasure My Text SMS archive service as a way to connect to other bloggers.

"Coworking" getting together with people that you really don't have anything in common with, other than you're all trying to accomplish something.  Twitter gives a collected search knowledge.  I've found the same thing, that your followers can respond to a tweet with specialized results instead of a general Google search.

(Kevin's a good moderator, getting us back on topic.)

What's your goals for finding other locals?  Bloggers have something in common in at least wanting to express our thoughts and ideas.  Also, there's a hub of experience, learning from each other.

How do new people assimilate into a blogging community? 

Blog Pro News may be a source for finding local bloggers.  And finding communities in general can help, such as Smaller Indiana or Greater Indiana.

Kevin is proposing Indiana needs to have a blog event that we all need to blog about Indiana.  I think that's a good idea!

The more we blog about Indiana, perhaps the more revenue and resources will come to Indiana.  Keep the smart people in Indiana.

Things to take with us: Blog about local things. 
Things to take with us: Have a monthly theme for all of us to blog on.
Things to take with us: Start this conversation on your own blog.
Things to take with us: Schedule meetings for an Indiana strategy.

Perhaps we can use Smaller Indiana to make a list of all blogs.  But what do we do to filter the list when we get too many?

And Kevin's mentioned Twine.  I'm still trying to get the hang of Twine.  Is Twine like Ning but better?  Kevin said he was going to blog about it, but if he has, I haven't seen it.  (hint, hint)
HUMAN NETWORKS  Good term.  To worry less about search engine optimization and focus more on the people you know.

The biggest hits on Kevin's blog is lyrics to a Wiggle's song. 

Place blogging, blogging about places.  Dr. Ho tried outside.in and Metroblog.  Outside.in has started to create place blogs by bringing in outside content.  Geotagging may help places like Outside.in help connect to your blog. 

Take big national issues and bring them down to the local area. 

I think this is the key issue: Many people don't realize what's possible in blogging yet.

Another good way to find local bloggers is offline, face-to-face.

IT"S ALL ABOUT CONNECTING PEOPLE.

Perception of place.  Does Indianapolis have a bad wrap in the technological community?  Particularly in recruiting.  We can prove that Indianapolis has a lot to offer.  Posting about Indiana helps improve the reputation of Indiana and brings more people in.

Start placeblogging about Indianapolis to improve your traffic because nobody else is!

Hashtagging in Twitter.  That's something I really don't do.  Is it something I should look into.

6 degrees of separation.  Someone you know might know someone who is interested in your content.