The Pragmatic Side of Twitter
It never fails. Once in a while (today being one of them) I get questions from friends about Twitter an why they should use it. I use to point them to one of my blog posts on the subject. That might be enough to get people to sign up but many still don’t get it. Truth be told, Twitter is ironically hard to describe in just 140 characters so maybe instead of trying to focus so much on the social aspects of the site I should simply give clear examples of good things that have happened since I joined Twitter.
Most recently a reciprocal follower @sweatje posted this: “Have some part time telecomuting PHP/Data Modeling work for a client I am unable to take on. Message me if you are interested.” A few weeks later I was tabbed to take on this part time work for the client he mentioned. Now over a month into it I can add that not only is the opportunity fun, but the client is great to work with.
A customer of mine informed me her husband was laid off from Principal Financial Group (http://www.principal.com). I suggested that he join Twitter as I knew there were a few local recruiters on the site. Just over a month ago I learned that that same person got a job through @sfedd’s company via an introduction I made to them both on Twitter.
@CalEvans announced he was leaving Zend as the Editor of DevZone and community evangelist. Over a series of months I was offered the job to replace him. It didn’t pan out but without Twitter the opportunity would have never found me, a software guy tucked away in Urbandale, Iowa. In a bit of a twist, I blogged about the events then posted it to Twitter and eventually this all made it’s way to @EliW who is now working hard at that post for Zend.
I love my family and my job. However they are competing influences. I’ve met great people like @markwarnke who emphasis the need for balance (I haven’t taken his ONO thing hook-line-and-sinker but the guy is a must-follow) and not too long ago my wife, @kbibbs, joined Twitter along with my dad, @mdbibbs and his love interest @TeresaBrent. For me that means I get regular updates on my kids, what my wife is doing, how my retired father is enjoying himself and what he and @TeresaBrent are up to. I get all that as it happens…not by waiting to make long overdue phone calls to my dad or getting middle of the day phone calls from my wife.
Now toss in the typical uses of Twitter, meeting new people, sharing thoughts with people with like interests, answering questions from people in need and then you really begin to see the power of it as a medium. I’d love to hear how others have used Twitter to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others.