Development Seed Blog

A Nigerian gem dealer just signed up on NextBillion.net, a progressive international development online community. I'm still stumped as to why he is on the site and what he expects to get out it. And I am really interested to know how he got there. The community now consists of World Bank, USAID, Chemonics, Freedom from Hunger... and there is a lot of discussion on socially responsible investing. What does a community do with an outsider, especially one like this?

It's going to be neat to see what happens. One of the founding principles of the site is to bring non-profit leaders together with business leaders. But who will reach across to this person who is working in a sector that has caused so much pain and suffering in Africa?

Why do you go out with your friends on Friday night? How did you meet? These answers all lie in network theory 'stuff' that we never need to think about because it just happens. But how does it happen online?