JohnnyStryker.net is my little experiment. It’s my pressure value, my sounding board, my place to write about whatever, whenever I feel like writing, but also to try to add to the conversations that are out there in the areas of education, technology and general thoughts and randomness.

I decided to use Johnny as my pen name, my alter ego, my  nom de plume if you will because I wanted to be able write about things anonymously to protect the innocent (not really), but to see if I could actually build a presence, create an online persona that people would actually read and follow.

But will people?

I have been using all the social media tools I talk to teachers about.  WordPress for this blog.  Twitter to get the word out.  Facebook for my “identity”.  YouTube to share things of interest. The only think I haven’t created is a Flickr and LinkedIn account… though I am not sure how I would use them in this case.

I am using tools like TwitterFeed to post content to Twitter and Facebook and GetClicky to keep track of what is actually going on with the site and the people coming to it (so far 87 people from 9 different countries – not great, but trying).

But the one thing that I always talk to teachers and students about when reading anything on the web is to know the source.  In the case of JohnnyStryker.net the author(s) is anonymous. The thoughts and ideas are real so does it matter?

I think that it depends on the purpose. What you are reading here is more about thoughts and ideas, not necessarily fact.  It represents what’s going in the author(s) head at the moment they wrote it and the fact they wanted to share it with you… the reader.

As I read The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott, I am interested in how he talks about blogs being different that newspapers and magazine. That they represents peoples (and companies & organizations) thoughts and ideas. That they are different and that people need to see them that way.  He says:

“It is better to think of the Web as a huge city teaming with individuals, and blogs as the sounds of independent voices, just like those of the street-corner soapbox preacher or that of a friend of yours who always recommends the best books.”

Well JohnnyStryker.net is my soapbox and this is my independent voice (and a few others independent voices).  Just as you might not know that random preacher on the corner, but you stop for a minute to listen , this is me speaking my truth… I hope you take a listen.