Social Networking in Action
Just over a month or so ago, I swore to myself that I would never get hooked into Twitter. Not that I thought it wasn’t cool, rather I feared the inevitable. And yes, I hate to admit it, but it did happen.
This past weekend my best friend Cory Miller and I had the fortune of attending Blogging for Businesses conference here in Chicago called SOBCon.
This blogging event is put on by a brilliant networker and strategist named Liz Strauss, someone that I have come to know online, but was great to finally meet.
Others that I finally had a chance to meet, included Lorelle VanFossen from Lorelle on WordPress, Brian Clark from Copyblogger and got a great big hug from Wendy Piersall from Sparkplugging (formerly known as eMoms at Home.)
While many of the speakers were talking, a lot of those attending were busy typing away – I figured some were checking email, some blogging, and some just doing their own thing. However, midway through one of the talks, Terry Starbucker started walking around the room and checking out what a lot of people were doing on their laptops.
During an interactive part of Wendy’s talk, Terry chimed in and made reference to the fact that many people were Twittering about what she was saying – some Twittering her with words of affirmation, some taking notes on what was being said, and even some just random commenting back and forth between those who were in attendance.
For a few minutes that afternoon, I really was able to wrap myself around the fact that social media is such an incredible tool, and even a powerful way of communication. It can be used for networking, a way to keep clients up to date and most importantly, something to do while you’re listening to a speaker talking about the very thing that you are doing!
Hi Brian! That Twitter “backchatter” really was amazing, wasn’t it? It really added something to the experience, which on the surface is quite counter-intuitive. I think folks need outlets to express immediate reactions – and there it was – Twitterland! Thanks for coming, and see you next year!
Terry
Hey Terry, yes, you are correct in saying that on the surface it could have been seen as distracting, or counter intuitive – but like you said, folks were pounding away on their keyboard with reactions to what was being said, and those of us doing it didn’t want to lose it in the moment.
Hi Brian!
Guess we’ve brought you over to the other conversational side! Not only where those folks talking notes and talking. They were talking to folks who were listening all over the world. Some were people who were curious. Some were people who really wished that they could have been in that room, but for some reason, just couldn’t get there.
It was great to finally meet you! I’m hoping that this means that we’ll be meeting up much more often as time goes by.
Hey bro, enjoyed hanging with you!!!!
Definitely something to think about…. I haven’t started Twittering yet, but who knows?
It must have been amazing to attend that conference, by the way!
Hi Brian – Twitter is often called ‘micro blogging,’ because of the few lines sent. However, for social-networking, Twitter is macro blogging, because it expands the one-to-many casual users to reach many more people particularly interested in what you have to say.
Just added you to my list of people to follow.
I’m on Twitter as ‘davidairey’, but don’t count on any words of wisdom.
I’ve just started twittering, and I find it to be pretty fun. However, getting responses and followers is proving more difficult than I thought!
Yay to Twitter and Yay to your latest twit about the new album! Albertine is grand.
I’ve never used Twitter mainly because I haven’t properly got into this social media thing yet, but it sounds like I need to!
I will have to say I am kind of sick of the whole twitter thing. It seems the only people that are pushing this are people that are trying to market something, namely themselves. Now, I have no problem with that, but it is basically a trendy self-promotion platform. Personally, I just don’t want people knowing what I am doing all the time, but to each his own, I guess.
Here is a ranking of the top 5 people on twitter based on followers (doesn’t that sound so Jim Jones?):
1. Leo Laporte (leolaporte)
2. Barack Obama (BarackObama)
3. Kevin Rose (kevinrose)
4. Jason Calacanis (JasonCalacanis)
5. Robert Scoble (Scobleizer)
That list tells me all I need to know about this service.
As for backchatter at a conference, I think it is for people with ADD who can’t sit still and give respect to a speaker who probably flew a 1000 miles to speak. If you don’t want to listen to the speaker, just invite the expert and sit around in a circle and just have a roundtable discussion.
Brian, I think your first instincts were correct, but with that said, as a marketer of blog themes I can understand why you would want to market yourself through this method.
Sorry for the rant…
Hi Brian,
I tried twitter once but wasn’t really a postive thing for me, however I think that is because I was (and still) a newbie when it comes to the social media, but hope it works out great for you!
Hi Brian. I’m not a twitter fanatic but I do use it as a healthy resource for finding what’s new, what’s coming and who’s pushing it. Very nice.
So, Doug believes note-taking is disrespectful? What difference does it make whether you use pencil and paper or a laptop and a web app? The only difference is that the high-tech way is much more powerful. I don’t see his logic. And saying that people with ADD can’t give respect to a speaker is a bit off-color.
Brian, I totally agree with you about Twitter being a powerful form of communication.
We were at a Real Estate Conference in DC and found that about ten of us in the room were twittering what others were saying in a certain forum. This allowed for other REALTORS not in attendance to hear/read what was going on.
It also allowed me to find where my wife was and what she was doing at the conference also. It also allowed a group of us to get together at a certain place a lot easier than by other methods of communications.