So I’m celebrating a big anniversary this month. Yes, I was born in May, but that’s not the one. I was also married in May (twice, but on different dates), but I’m not talking about that either. Those anniversaries come every year, and surely the birthdays are something I could seriously do without.
No, I’m talking about my Twitter anniversary. It is one year from some day in May (didn’t write that one down) that I started “lurking” in the background of lawyers, social media marketers, bloggers and other uncategorized members of this huge “tribe” of constant communicators. Fortunately, I’ve gone far beyond the lurking status to engage in one of the most dynamic connecting/engaging/learning experiences of my life. If I had to relate to a real (i.e., physical) life experience, it’s like being at a year-long 24/7 conference where you never leave the hotel, you attend presentations, read hand-outs, and engage in conversations with thousands of other people. Constantly. Fortunately, you can go back to your room and hide if you want, and no one will notice. Because everybody does it.
So I thought, in celebration of this life-changing event, I would offer a peek into what I learned on Twitter today. Here is a list of the places I ventured to online as a consequence of the generosity of my Twitter community:
- A new book has been published called The Referral Engine:Teaching Your Business to Market Itself by John Jantsch, author and leading authority in social media marketing. This one is definitely worth the purchase if you are a small business entrepreneur.
- Social Media is the Glue of Innovation: An insightful article on SocialMediaToday by Braden Kelley regarding how social media supports innovation
- Innovation: Changing People’s Stories: A blog post by Jye Smith, and touching story about how innovation in technology brought him back to the home he had come from.
- Innovative Lawyers Push Forward with Virtual Law Practice: A new blog post on Lawyerist by Stephanie Kimbro concerning the newest opinion on virtual law practice issued by the New Jersey State Bar which has caused yet more confusion about ethical issues raised by elawyering.
- Finding Clients for Your New Practice: A new podcast by Rodney Dowell, host of The Unbillable Hour, one of the best series produced through Legal Talk Network.
- Multi-Monitor Support: A guide by Affinity Consulting Group on using more than one monitor to help multi-task (not sure this is a good thing, but that’s a philosophical discussion)
- Bad Blogs? Lawyers Blast Findlaw’s Offerings as Spam: An article from the ABA Journal by Rachel M. Zahorsky about the controversial blog posts on Findlaw.com, a legal networking site.
That’s a lot of information to digest in one day, and certainly I don’t always have time to take advantage of all that Twitter gives you access to. The option is to go to the site and save it in your Evernote account for later access. (Evernote will save your life, it’s free and really easy to use).
But what else did I do on Twitter this morning? I found out someone was frustrated, another was delayed at the airport, yet another this really funny line from a teenager. I saw a picture of someone’s son in his T-ball uniform. I received some thank yous and compliments and sent some out. I asked someone when they could be available for a chat.
Why is this stuff important to me? Because we don’t just “talk” at each other, we “talk” to each other. We get to know each other. Some of us are friends who have never met, but hope to soon.
I really do celebrate my one year anniversary on Twitter. I celebrate the fact that the derailed early retirement I thought I was headed for no longer matters. I’m engaged. I’m excited. And it started a year ago.
So how about you? What did you learn on Twitter today? About anyone or anything? Because if you didn’t, you’re missing the conference. And it’s still going on.
