A guest stayed with us this weekend as he looked for a place to live here in Seattle. He is a bright young guy named Jordan Rule and this is the story of how he got here.
On Friday night over dinner, a friend of ours said this before Jordan arrived: “So, let me get this straight, you left a comment on this guy’s web site and now he’s staying in your HOUSE?�? My answer was yes, with a grin.
This friend was looking at web sites in the old view- that web sites and people are different things – that you can’t trust someone based on their web site. My reality was that Jordan and his site are the same thing and I trusted him.
Over the weekend, Jordan and I talked about the idea that I could trust him enough to stay at my house, partially because of his weblog. Here were the major points:
- I could tell, from his blog posts, that Jordan and I have similar philosophies
- His blog could not be written by someone who is a risk in my house
- Jordan, as a blogger, has some reputation to uphold by being here – I could be telling a different story today.
It all worked out perfectly though. Jordan found a place to live, made new friends and even got to have lunch with Scoble, Matt Mullenweg (who organized it), Chris Pirillo among others. Here’s how this all transpired…
- Nancy White subscribes to alerts for “online community�?, reads Jordan’s post
- Nancy IMs me “This guy is talking about stuff like you�?
- I leave a comment on Jordan’s entry
- Jordan reads the comment, visits my site
- Jordan emails me- “I’m moving to Seattle�?
- I reply- “Let’s hook up for lunch�?
- He stays at my house for the weekend
Maybe I am naïve, or too trusting, but I think this is a great example of the power of weblogs- the power to have an online identity that accelerates relationships like this one.
This reminds me a little about how Josh Peterson and I became friends.