I started experimenting with Twitter on March 6, 2007 (I am @davidleeking on Twitter), and I have just posted my 5000th tweet! What’s that gotten me, exactly? Actually quite a few things, including friends, connections to people, and some actual work, too.
First for some normal stat type things. Right now, I have:
- 3198 followers
- been included on 250 lists (mostly on librarian, kansas, rockstar, and social media lists)
- created 4 lists of my own (that 20 people follow)
- compiled a huge list of favorites
- Also compiled 417 DMs that I need to delete but haven’t yet – most are other Twitter followers, saying something like “thanks for the follow, please click here” 🙂 But some are more relevant, like working out details of conferences I helped plan or some more personal conversations that didn’t need to be broadcast.
But how about those connections? Twitter isn’t about stats – it’s all about connecting with people. How has that looked over those 5000 tweets?
I have made some new friends through Twitter, and have kept up connections to people that I’ve met once or twice (like @shelitwits or @ifroggy).
Twitter has also given me connections to some smart “popular” people that I follow elsewhere, and normally wouldn’t have direct access to. People like Chris Brogan, Beth Kanter, and Kathy Sierra. They sometimes reply to my tweets – and in this way, Twitter has leveled out the playing field a bit. For the most part, people I want to talk to are a reply away.
I am also connected to lots of friends and colleagues, librarians, local friends and acquaintances, and other people sharing my love of social media tools.
That “actual work” thing. I have done real work that is connected to Twitter. Work that includes:
- Overseeing three work-related Twitter accounts
- Creating some goals for our primary library twitter account
- I have written and spoken about Twitter. I have given at least three presentations on Twitter, and have written about Twitter in my book and in more than one magazine article.
- When I have a work-related question? I sometimes go to Twitter first, and get quick, useful responses within minutes.
- I use Twitter at conferences for discussion, committee planning, and (of course) dinner planning!
- Remember when my library went through that book challenge last year? I tweeted the public meetings, and even “Twitter trended.”
Other general silliness, from TweetStats:
- I generally tweet in the mornings and late afternoons
- I tweeted the most during the library’s book challenge about 1 year ago
- I average 6.1 tweets a day
- I use Tweetdeck a lot
- I have had 21 twooshes (a 140-character tweet, according to Tweetstats)!
So … looking back, has it been a useful 5000 tweets? I think so. I have made some friends via twitter. I have talked to people about projects, worked through ALA stuff, and shared things that interested me. I have shared jokes, sent links to my blog posts … and had fun.
p.s. – did you know that people tweet about their 5000th tweet? I sure didn’t… !
That's a ton of tweets! Congrats!I think that Twitter has a lot more value socially than most people believe. I wonder if you've seen the new Twitter results that are coming up in Google searches? It's pretty interesting. If you Google search your Twitter username (no spaces), it'll automatically show the last two tweets from your account.
congrats on sticking with Twitter this long. I think it's a great way to network and I'm thankful for it just about every day..lol
It's been a pleasure meeting you sir, and it wouldn't of happen this quick if it wasn't for Twitter.
I look forward to the next 5,000 tweets for you 🙂
How could we have imagined how much twitter could change the way we think, act, respond or, maybe, even design? It's really quite incredible…small ideas, magnified (again, again)!
Tony