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@GaryVee

Unless you swim in social media circles, you probably aren’t too familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk. But that is soon going to change. Gary is a rising star. In fact, in early September he was featured prominently in the New York Times.  He is closing in on a million followers on Twitter - @garyvee.  And he’s got 32-thousand fans on his Facebook page.  What is he famous for?  Wine.

Gary Vaynerchuk makes his living as a wine reviewer.  He bucks the traditional wine lingo and puts his tastings in very common everyday language.  But he’s also known for his social media marketing skills. It his dedication to social media that turned his life around and made him what he is today.  He just signed a book deal (said to be 7-figures) to write 10-books!  His first one comes out in mid-October entitled “Crush It”. And in true social media style, he uses Facebook to promote it.

Gary was at Walt Disney World Resort for the opening of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.   I was fortunate to be able to hear Gary speak on social media.  I felt so inspired by his enthusiasm, his humor, his passion for social media.  He gets it and sincerely wants to see the rest of the world “get it”.  And to put icing on the cake – he’s a super nice guy in person. What you see is what you get with him. He’s awesome.

An enlightening moment was when Gary made the observation that the internet is only 14-years old – “it hasn’t even had sex yet.”   Now that’s funny!

Gary also believes that one day Facebook will be your identity, if not already. Facebook has nearly 400 million users and the day is soon coming when everyone will have a Facebook page. He thinks FB will become your new digital wallet.

 Social media is all about engaging in conversation with those that are talking about you or with those people whom you have similar interests.  The media world is changing rapidly and we’re probably seeing right now the biggest evolution in the media world than ever before. With technology constantly changing and getting better and better, we’re going to soon be a very digital society with applications that can think better for us and think ahead of us.

I learned so much from hearing Gary Vaynerchuk speak.  He’s inspiring – he’s contagious. And – he’s funny.