Celebrate Contribupendence Day on July 3!

My fellow developer evangelist for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee - the great Jeff Blankenburg - had an extremely cool idea.  On Thursday July 3, the day before Independence Day in the United States, he is celebrating “Contribupendence Day”.  This is a day where we recognize the contributions of others by taking some time to write recommendations in social networks such as LinkedIn.  From Jeff’s blog:

"On July 3, 2008, I am going to write recommendations for 5 people on LinkedIn . And leave comments on Plaxo . And {name your social network here}.

One of the things that I have found, in this wonderful developer community I am a part of, is that we've got some amazingly talented people in this industry. But when I look around at their profiles on the sites I mentioned above, you'd hardly know it. Hardly anyone has even ONE recommendation on LinkedIn. Comments (or a presence, for that matter) on Plaxo are slim. Facebook walls usually consist of nothing more than "Hey Steve, what are you doing this weekend?" But yet, when you're looking for that next job, what's the first place a new employer is going to look?

So let's tell the world about the people we work with. Or the people we WISH we worked with. No strings attached. Let's make sure that when someone looks up your friend online, that they find a glowing (and true) review from a peer. No embellishments, no lies. Just the truth. And do it with no expectation that they will return the favor. That's just selfish."

I really like this idea!  On July 3, I will join Jeff and write 5 recommendations on LinkedIn.  I've been extremely fortunate to work with a number of amazing minds (many more than 5, but there are only so many hours in a day), and it's nice to take some time out to recognize that. 

Please join the celebration, and contribute to someone's independence from online mediocrity!