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Retrospective on 2010

ByJeff Gibbard

I was reading blogs on my iPad as I rode the bus into work today and came across several great posts reviewing this past year.

Thank You

The first was Valeria Matloni’s post: Thank You. In this post Valeria thanks numerous people that helped make her 2010 a resounding success. I think I’d like to do the same. First by saying thank you to Valeria for being a role model, and inspiring me to dig deeper and produce the better content.

#YearInReview

After that I read Seth Godin’s: #YearInReview What did you ship in 2010? In this post Seth lists off a baker’s dozen of accomplishments in 2010. Listing off accomplishments is difficult for almost everyone because no one wants to appear too self-congratulatory. Most fear that their accomplishments aren’t big enough, which is of course fiction. An accomplishment is an accomplishment, you don’t need to answer to anyone, let it fly! I’ll be doing a list too.

The Evolution of…

Finally I read Chris Brogan’s: The Evolution of Chris Brogan. Chris goes back a little further than just the beginning of the year, he takes us back to virtually the beginning to describe the journey that he’s travelled to become the Chris Brogan of today. He highlights “who he is” and what he does in the most simplistic way that he is capable of doing given his large body of work. Again I’d like to mimic this format somewhat.

So today will be my Thank You post and tomorrow I’ll be talking about the Evolution of Jeff Gibbard bundled with my #YearInReview.

My Thank You List

Where to start, where to start? It’s amazing when you think back on nearly 365 days. There have been so many people that have contributed to the growth and success of this blog, Social Media Philanthropy but also the growth and success of my career.

If I had to start somewhere, and this may seem cheesey, but I’d have to thank my wife. Ellie serves so many functions in my development as a blogger, a professional, an adult and as a person. She proofreads my blogs even if sometimes the content doesn’t really interest her on a particular day. She inspires me and gives me the confidence to stay true to my ambitions. Thank you Ellie.

Thanks to my two best friends in the world, outside of my wife, Matt Engler and Josh Wright. You guys are just plain awesome, whatever I would say here can only really be summed up in this way: #menergy

My other amazing friends: HG Chissell and Justin Flax, both of whom feed me incredible and interesting information and continually reassure me that I’m good at all of this social media stuff.

Thank you to everyone in the Philly social media scene. Notably, thanks to Gloria Bell for being the sweetest person in Philadelphia with a huge and generous heart. Thanks to Wil Reynolds for showing me that incredible business owners are out there, working their heart out and creating a good environment for their staff. Thanks also to Harrison Kratz, Rick Alcantara, Jed Singer, Eric Peterson and John Valentine (of SCVNGR).

Thank you to the entire Devine + Powers team. I love this job and it truly is one of the Best Places to Work.

Thank you to the various people I’ve met at a social media event, on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook that continue to support me, promote me and let me know that all of this time and effort is not for waste. To name a few, Jason Kaminsky, Tatiana Bacchus, Jake Kaskey, Caleb Mezzy, Erin Lambert.

Thank you to My Influencers, a core group of bloggers and thought leaders that continue to push our industry forward, inspire me, educate me and give me their time, effort and guidance. To name a few: Jason Falls, Valeria Maltoni, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Seth Godin, Shel Holtz, Mark Murnahan and Erika Napoletano. You are all outstanding people!

Thanks to all of this year’s guest bloggers.

Thank you to all of my subscribers, please drop by and tell me About You sometime. There are far more subscribers than comments on my blog so I hope in 2011 you’ll be more vocal and let me get to know all of you better.

If I left someone out, BELIEVE ME, it was not intentional. Thank you all for helping make 2010 spectacular. I’m looking forward to next year and I’m sure you’ll be seeing your names here again next year.