In the final chapter of his book Me and My Web Shadow Antony Mayfield introduces us to the concept of serendipity engines. By sharing online you expose yourself to unexpected connections.

“[…] to be connected is to be lucky, or at least luckier. […] Online connections increase your chance or finding the right person with the right knowledge at the right time,” says Mayfield.

I asked Antony to share some personal examples of web serendipity.

“These moments of serendipity come so frequently that you almost expect them, and while delighted are no longer surprised that they occur. You have the ‘small world’ effect of being in the same place at the same time a lot – whether it is happily meeting with an old friend in New York when I was there alone one weekend, to discovering that you are waiting in the same café at Gatwick airport as someone from your Twitter network.

“When I broadcast the book’s launch details on Twitter among the good wishes were notes from two good contacts saying, ‘good timing’ and that they would be putting in multiple orders to support training at their respective organisations.

“One afternoon I said on Twitter I was researching a particular topic and got back messages with lists of links and introductions to experts in the area – it saved me literally hours of searching and reading.

“The more you put into your network selflessly, the more it gives back in terms of lucky breaks. Although I say I’m less surprised when these things happen, I never cease to be amazed.”

Antony has created a category on his blog for updates about the book.