Twitter – Really? Why?

21 February 2009
So I admit I am a geek, I take some pride in the fact that I have been in tech related jobs for about 15 years now, 10 of which I have been working for myself.  In that time, I have had service businesses, and web related businesses, but rarely do you see the kind of phenomenon that Twitter has brought, and it has been hitting cyberspace right between the i-’s.

I of course had to embrace this new communications platform, so I could claim my rank (96.8) in the “Twitterverse”…one of the Florida Twitter Elite, or so I thought.  (It seems if you add Tampa FL USA to the rank, I need a 98 or higher to make it to the top 50!  Damn, I need more followers!)


My friend @VLEdwards works for Linkshare and is one of the twitterati that ranks above a 98, and gave me some twitter tips and link love, It was then I realized the potential of Twitter and why one should spend time on what on the surface seems to be an inane practice of self flagellation. (Put THAT in your Funk and Wagnalls

This caused me to go on a quest, seeking knowledge about twitter, and how it might help increase my “Web Celeb” status, and overall karma online.  The best place to learn is from those already doing, so, I sought out the Oracle of Leo (a.k.a. Leo Laporte, @leolaporte for the twit-heads).  Leo is a podcasting god, doing about 13 unique podcast shows each week, and like me, he prefers the term “Netcast”.  More on that later.

So Leo is on the radio (yeah, I have no idea how that guy gets any sleep) and said that www.Zappos.com has a great store, and their CEO, Tony @zappos was an avid user of Twitter.  Ok,Tony is a HUGE success online, and Zappos is awesome for customer support and way cool products  (See my previous post about my Blue Suede Shoes, BABY!).  How is it he has time, let alone uses twitter to reach out to prospects or his existing customer base?  I later found out that it is company policy, and a big chunk of the staff tweet regularly!  (Yes. tweet is the past tense for twitted…not a word either, but hey, let’s not split feathers here.)

OK, now I follow Tony at Zappos, and then BAM!  All these people start following me, including some of the aforementioned Web Celebs!  Come to find out, there is a program that runs to automatically follow other twitters that follow you, who knew?)

So, if you are not on www.twitter.com , I recommend you listen to this podcast by my friend and client @berniebay and add me as @chuckpalm today!  I promise you I will only tweet when sober, and about relevant info, or at least mildly humorous.

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One Response to “Twitter – Really? Why?”

  1. How to Use Social Media - Lessons from AMA Digital Conference « The Effective Marketer Says:
    March 7th, 2009 at 9:32 pm

    [...] we heard throughout the day and added some great stories about Twitter, blogs, and podcasting. The Zappos story about blue suede shoes stuck in my mind as a great example of social media, six degrees of separation, and pure [...]

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