Since last week’s curated content goodies were well received, I’m continuing the practice this week.

Quick reminder…

Okay, now for the most interesting things that popped out at me in the past week…

1. Throwing caution to the wind.

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out Julien Smith‘s post on Medium, “The Complete Guide to Not Giving a Fuck.”

Don’t let the language put you off,* there are some great tips in here for everyone (individuals and companies alike) on how to live your life fearlessly.

I can’t tell you how many projects I have worked on that were derailed by fear…

• What if people don’t like us?
• What if we make a mistake?
• What if things get awkward?

So what?

I’m not being glib here, SO WHAT? Just proceed as if those things are going to happen (because they are…they’re happening right now.)

Believe me, this change in perspective will set you free.

2. Timber/Fire mashup

I thought this mashup by Meghan Tonjes of Kes$a/Pitbull’s “Timber” and Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” was really lovely.

Problem is, once I listened to it, I couldn’t stop listening to it. (You’ve been warned.)

This young lady deserves to be famous, so I’m more than happy to send some link love her way.

3. The New York Times: the masters of digital storytelling.

The New York Times is doing some of the most innovative work in digital/interactive storytelling out there right now.

After their excellent feature, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek” last year, they’ve followed up with more interactive stories in conjunction with the Winter Olympics.

If you’re in the content marketing game, this is the stuff you should be studying: it’s educational, informative, entertaining, visually stunning and looks amazing on mobile devices.

If you’re interested in extreme stunts, I’d be remiss not to also recommend checking out the excellent documentary, “The Crash Reel,” which explores some of the consequences of athletes pushing themselves to do bigger and better tricks. It’s excellent and powerful stuff.

4. Bigger isn’t necessarily better.

Too often in social media, people talk about how great it is to amass a huge following (sometimes at the expense of thinking through what you should do with that audience after you’ve amassed them.)

The post, “The Flip Side of a Big Audience” by Gina Trapani examines some of the downsides of that practice.

While my follower counts aren’t even a fraction of Trapani’s, I think she hits the nail on the head and echos some of the concerns I’ve had over the past five years watching my networks grow. (I’m often nailed with “You’re not funny, Jen” comments on Twitter. Um…okay. So maybe then don’t follow me?)

The grass isn’t always greener on the other wise of the socialverse, folks.

5. Connectivity vs connection.

There were a lot of great articles on relationships last week in conjunction with Valentines Day. Of these, Dr. Sue Johnson’s post on Wired. “How Gadgets Ruin Relationships and Corrupt Emotions” from her book Love Sense was noteworthy for giving a lot of food for thought.

I’ve been thinking about this topic for years. The connections are we make in social media are both real and yet not really real at the same time. And that makes for confusing relationships with strange boundaries sometimes.

It’s worth asking what these relationship will mean for us as a society in the long term.

As the article says, “While our electronic gadgetry is keeping us more connected in some ways, it is a shallow connection — not the deep emotional engagement needed for any kind of meaningful relationship.” It’s a interesting conundrum worth thinking about on Valentines Day…and likely every other day in between.

*Yep. Sometimes I will share content with swear words in it…because the Internet is full of content with swear words in it. I’m betting you’re a enough of a grown up to handle it.