I started my career as a journalist and that adventure took me from my native Ohio to Tokyo in the early 1990s and finally to San Francisco as one of Computerworld's first online reporters in 1998.

I dived into social media in 1996 -- long before the term "blog" was coined -- when I moved my quarterly printed "The Diederich Journal" online. It was cheaper than mailing dozens of envelopes from Japan.

Fast-forward....14 years in Silicon Valley and nearly five in Ohio (where my wife and i raised miniature sheep). We loaded up the "flock" and moved to San Antonio (wife, two giant dogs, one small cat, 13 sheep) in April 2016.

Let's talk social media: I designed, built and managed Symantec's first customer community, the Symantec Technology Network, in 2006. It was comprised of user-to-user discussion forums, an expert blog, and weekly videos. That pioneering B2B community for the software giant's enterprise business inspired the company's Norton Community for the consumer side the following year. I was an advisor on that project.

In 2008 I launched and managed Cadence Design Systems (electronic design automation) first customer community - and did the same thing for the sales coaching experts at Ninety Five 5 in 2010. In 2013 I launched and managed an online community and social media program at Percona, the largest independent database services company.

Most recently I helped revamp USAA's Member Community (blogs and forums) as director of communities and advocacy.

I'm always happy to speak with groups about corporate blog programs, social media and community management. Just ask! :)