In July 2006, Liz Strauss called me out and named me one of her SOBs (Successful and Outstanding Bloggers). Honestly, I didn’t think too much of it at the time… there were a variety of blog “awards” being thrown around. I didn’t realize that Liz had realized what was going make blogging (and later, social media in general) thrive: community.

It’s now two and a half years later, Liz’s SOB program now features a ton of great bloggers and has made her a well-known name across the blogosphere, and we’re both going to be speaking at WordCamp Las Vegas next month. What’s my topic? How Portland is using social media to build community, both online and off.

Perhaps I should have paid more attention to Liz and her community thing a couple years ago…