I watched a video on
Ustream of
@lizstrauss at #wordcamplv and she mentioned how multi-dimensional conversations take place online.
I thought it was interesting enough to write my first "meaningful" blog posting about it.
When you interact on
twitter, there are several things that can happen (whether you like it or not):
A Tweet -A conversation between you and all of your followers
A @reply - A conversation between you and the person you reply to (Remember: all of your followers are listening too)
A Direct Message - A "private" conversation between you and a follower
ReTweet (RT) - A conversation about you or your content involving people that you might not know exist
Something that many people overlook is the immortality of content online. When you tweet something, it can live forever - even if you think it has been buried or deleted. There might be a conversation, years down the road, regarding something you tweeted or blogged about.
Twitter has handed you a megaphone and earplugs. Use them wisely.
---------------------------My Twitter Dream---------------------------Alone, I walk into a crowded convention hall - people all around me are chatting amongst themselves, some in small circles. A few elite, like
@chrisbrogan,
@scobleizer, and
@jowyang stand on podiums throughout the hall shouting into megaphones like high-tech, soap-boxing prophets. Thousands of people crowd around them nodding their heads at one another as if to say, "Yes, I agree, but needed to be told so."
To my right is
@iJustine - spreading her iPhone bill across the crowd like the Blue Men Group toilet papering their audience. A bunch of lonely techies giggle like schoolgirls and shout compliments her way hoping to get some sort of @reply - although most of them seem happy enough just to be involved.
To my left stands
@WholeFoods, tossing out recipe shwag. A pink
@SocialVibe ball bounces in front of me and rests at my feet. "Lots of big and important things coming to www.SocialVibe.com this month," it says.
I kick it and accidentally hit
@levarburton in the back. "OOh, a pink ball", he exclaims---obviously he's new here too.
Suddenly, a luminous cloud hovers over my head. I look up to find the @ShortyAwards whale bellowing out nominations.
"@guykawasaki, you got a vote in the Shorty Awards Finals from @davidlwatts (and 47 others) in #business!", booms the whale.
"wtf?", I think to myself.
I make my way through the crowds of Tweeps passing business cards back and forth. I turn to my right and see
@LisaBarone,
@sugarrae, and
@graywolf chatting. "Hi, what are you guys up to?", I ask.
They ignore me. I am dead to them.
I turn to my left and ask
@NixTheNews, "Hey, how's it going?" Immediately he turns to me, laughs, and shouts "Congratulations, you are today's Top Tweeter".
"Cool", I think to myself.
Just then about 300 people turn to me and start yelling, "@AllenKelly you have been @Tweetbomb-ed!"
Little Yellow
@Tweetbombs start to pour in from every direction. Even @iJustine turns her head to look at the commotion, but quickly turns back to her minions to hand out headshots.
Soon, random people start handing ME business cards, URLs to their blogs, coupon codes for
@Zappos. I get DMs in sealed envelopes that read, "Thanks for the follow! Here's a gift - my free ebook!"
"Twitter is kind of cool", I think to myself.
"It sure is!", yells @NixTheNews.
Oops, I must have tweeted that aloud.
twitter