This morning I’m reflecting on some very good feelings about a young man I’ve never met, but to whom I’ve grown close over the past week. His name is Cody Marshall. He is on the U.S. Ski Team. Last week, Cody suffered a devastating (non-ski related) injury, and has been in a drug-induced coma while doctors treat him for head trauma. During all of this, his friends and family have been by his side – which is not the unusual part of this story.

The Marshall family set up a blog for Cody and they have been posting to it several times a day. Ski Racing magazine reported on the blog so that fans and supporters were aware of it. The first I heard of it came from a Facebook friend, a local ski coach, who sent a message out within a day of the accident. I have been reading the blog regularly, sending my own comments, and praying for the Marshall family every time I receive an e-mail alert of a new post.

Cody is making progress. He is opening his eyes, responding to pinch tests (which his sister and brothers and friends seem to be having some fun with) and showing other signs of improvement. It sounds like the medical staff have been amazing, and they’ve provided detailed explanations of every drug and technique they’re using on Cody – which have been included in the blogs. Along with these reports, I’m reading about the friends who are at bedside, and what they’re doing to support Cody and his family – particularly his sister, Chelsea (a World Cup racer, herself; pictured above), who I’m pretty sure hasn’t left Cody for more than a couple hours at a time.

This brings me to what I believe is the unusual part of this story. I barely knew of the existence of these people two weeks ago, other than what I read about their racing accomplishments. Today, they are part of my daily routine as I check on Cody’s progress, share a little of the emotion felt by his inner circle, and do all that I can do, which is to send my support to them through prayer and blog comments. That may not seem like much to some. But I know that if I were in the position of the Marshalls right now, I’d truly appreciate these contributions. And, according to their blog, they do.

These days I spend most of my time helping people understand the practical purpose of social media. Granted, many people get it; or else it wouldn’t be so popular. But I’m really looking forward to the day when businesses have figured out that they can use these techniques to connect to the emotions of their markets by sharing information in a genuine and unselfish way. The Marshall family – though their objective is quite different from the typical business – provide a great example of how to be sensitive to the needs of their audience, and as a result, have likely grown their audience beyond their wildest imagination.

Check out Cody’s blog, and join us in helping him through his recovery.

I strongly believe that businesses are going to have to embrace social media as an integral part of their communication and marketing strategies if they want to be competitive. But, I still see a lot of skepticism, resistance, and even indifference among the professional ranks. I also believe these critics have good reason to turn their backs on this emerging force. There is no easy way to break into social media – at least no easy way to do it and be effective. At the end of this blog I have linked a Startup Model for Social Media that I think will help even the resisters get started. Here is how my model came to take shape:

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I just finished reading an article that warned against Tweeting if you’re in the process of interviewing for jobs. The reason? Because you might disclose something negative about yourself that causes you to lose value as a job candidate. The example they gave was a woman who, according to her resume, was qualified for a mid-level accounting job. But, when the hiring company looked at her online profiles – which is done more and more often these days – what they saw was a person with a negative attitude. Thus, she was no longer considered for the job.

Here’s what I have to say about this: Advising someone to hide under a rock in hopes that no one discovers their bad attitude is pretty twisted counsel. Rather, you might advise that person to work on their attitude.

One of the beauties of social networking is that you can feel free to be yourself – good, bad or otherwise. If you’re good, and you contribute value to the conversation, and you bring out the best in others, and you’re fun to find online, then you should get to be recognized for your attributes. If you’re bad, and make negative remarks, and complain and whine, so be it. It’s who you are – online, and most likely offline. If a potential employer fails to look at your online activity and ends up hiring you, they’ll figure out their mistake in short order and you’ll still be looking for another job. (Side note: If the recruiter searches for you online and finds nothing, or finds you’ve abandoned your networks, that’s going to say something about you, too. They could easily surmise that you’re hiding.)

Everyone has the occasional bad day, and sometimes that slips out in a Tweet or status update. Most people, however, know that their bad mood will pass, and posting about it isn’t going to help. So my advice is: use discretion and a little self-discipline to keep yourself from “dumping” on your community. However, if you positively can’t keep yourself from being rude, harsh, ugly, or whatever it is that seems to be oozing from your pores, go ahead and be authentic. It’s your prerogative and your privilege. But you also need to be prepared for the consequences. If you don’t like the consequences, maybe you’ll be motivated to do what you have to to become a happier person. And that’s not all bad, either.