Last year, I created a call-to-action for Contribupendence Day. The basic idea is simple:

You work with many people every year. A handful of them are absolutely outstanding, in your opinion. Have you ever shared that opinion with them? Have you shared that opinion with anyone else?

Contribupendence Day is an annual reminder to give your rockstar business contacts some much deserved feedback. Leave them a recommendation on LinkedIn. Write a blog post about them. Create some content on the Internet that can be found by others.

Ultimately, they are going to be looking for a job in the next few years, and employers LOVE recommendations from others.

So, this is a call to action for each one of you. On July 3rd, go to a social networking site (LinkedIn, SpeakerRate, Plaxo, Facebook, Friendfeed, Live Spaces, etc.), and write 5 reviews of your favorite colleagues. They don't have to work with you today, but you should have some professional experience with them in some fashion.

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.

The term "contribupendence" was coined because this effort is meant to contribute to a person's independence from online mediocrity. Help someone get the credit and reputation they deserve!

Labels: contribupendence, contribupendence day, linkedin, plaxo, twitter