By Angela Maiers

The Sandbox Manifesto: Life, Learning and Success on the Social Web

I happily and honestly proclaimed that everything I have learned about social media, I learned from children. With no ulterior motives; children will just be themselves and in doing so, place staggeringly profound lessons in front of us.  I recently had the opportunity to visit with children in their most scared of habitats; the sandbox.

It was there I recognized the sandbox as one of the most fitting analogies for the web and the world we find ourselves a part of now. Like the sandbox of our childhood, the web provides us with endless opportunities. It is a space where imagination, ingenuity, innovation, connection and discovery collide, and play is the exultation of the possible.

We are entering the most marvelous of ages; an age where influence, power and success will no longer be determined by how hard we work but rather how well we play together in this space. Our play here has rules, and often the rules mock all ideologyand seriousness of work outside the sandbox.

The Sandbox Manifesto is both a declaration and an invitation to keep the experience of the sandbox alive and to recognize and honor the wisdom we acquired through our experiences on the inside.

As you preview the presentation, think about how these simple truths of leading and influencing others, managing failure, strategic thinking, and resolving conflicts and apply it to the global sandbox we find ourselves invited into now.

What can we uncover, re-discover and create to make the time we have with one another the best possible experience for everyone involved? Even more importantly, what must we do to ensure that what we create and share has the possibility and potential to make our lives and the world a better place to be?

I invite you to join me in the srel="nofollow" andbox where I will be presenting sharing the Manifesto for the first time at the K12 Online Conference.

I look forward to your thoughts and ideas and seeing you in a sandbox soon!