Twitter, the greatest mind ever?

Posted by Amrit Gill | Filed under Social

I’ve only been on Twitter for just over a year and a half now (@apsg) and it’s taken me a while to build a good level of engagement amongst my peers. During the early days, right after I subscribed to the Top 100 SEO’s on twitter list I witnessed something orgasmic. The great @BrentDPayne asked a technical question about MS Office and his horde tweeted back at him the answer.

I was rather overwhelmed and became jealous and riddled with envy, I wanted the potential of never having to think HARD for myself again, and it got me excited!

We humans have dreamt of Artificial Intelligence for over 50 years, having the ability to remove the mundane from life. I can easily proclaim that I have the next best thing, TWITTER.

Yes, that’s right, my twittersphere is V.I.K.I, Deep Thought and HAL all rolled into one, I can ask IT a question and IT will return many answers for me to pick! It all happens within minutes, if not seconds, I engage with PEOPLE that are happy to spend their “social hours” on twitter, and more importantly ON ME.

And that’s the secret to building an environment that not only enriches my daily life with thought provoking matter, but help me with my career and profession, invest in it and it shall reward you plentiful.

But you say you already spend your “social hours” on twitter, but I ask:

DO YOU REALLY?

And I don’t mean tweeting, retweeting and following some more, I’m talking about taking a moment and checking out hashtags of subjects that interests you, discovering people from outside your stream, adding an alternative perspective to your current form.

So is it still a YES to my question?

Then tell me, how does one go from What shall I buy my Doris for Christmas? To What shall I listen to next? And then finally onto Where can I get 100,000 fake twitter accounts that can pass as real? Each answered by individual people that are connected to each other and were discovered through twitter only?

No idea? Well let me tell you…

I discovered @katepinksmith through #steviewonder whilst watching his set at Glasto 2010. I now know someone in Sheffield that’s in the KNOW, I can ask her of fashion, grooming, food and relations, anything I wish to tell you the truth and I know she’ll be at the ready with wise tweets. I discovered Chanel Paradoxal through her, to which will be the potential Doris (I only have one in mind / heart right now…) Christmas Present (if she’s decided to see it through).

So the journey continues – during a music-off with Kate on twitter, the awesome that is @KieronDonoghue entered with a few musical selections to raise the bar. He made me aware of his wonderful Spotify Playlist site sharemyplaylist.com, To which I am now never without inspiration for a What to Listen to Next moment.

Of course, Kieron sits just inside my professional stream and had mentioned me to the great Paul Madden aka @SEOIdiot, to which I finally got a chance to meet at Think Visibility and got talking!

Naturally, Paul followed me on twitter and saw that I was spending some time in Costa Del Blackpool and I asked him out on a date! A few drinks later, the conversation went from 4SQRing his dream property to having an army of 100K strong tweeple in his control!

All from a simple engagement of a hashtag that was representing something tangible and current, occurring live and that I spent time on I have managed to develop my twittersphere into a Beautiful Mind that can answer any of my erratic questions.

October 19th, 2010

3 Responses to “Twitter, the greatest mind ever?”

  1. Kev Strong Says:
    October 19th, 2010 at 10:35 am

    Love the article Amrit – I can totally relate!

    My experience with Twitter follows yours so much its actually quite scary. I used to use Twitter as a source of “networking”. Following the right people to gather information, latest blog posts etc. Now I not only find Twitter to be a great source of information and articles I probably wouldn’t have seen, I do find that it’s great at answering very specific questions. I often use #NEFollowers for Newcastle related questions (bar recommendations, places to buy things etc) when I can’t find the answer on Google or whatever.

    It is also a great tool for introduction when utilized properly. I’ve met some great people through music sharing of spotify play lists (just like your example), and also in the build up to real-life meetings at meetups, conferences etc.

    As a result of this integrating and reaching out, I find Twitter is also great for self-promotion. Engage with the right people on a human level and they will follow you. Advertise your latest blog post and they will be more inclined to retweet because they have prior experience with you. This is a reward, I find, for being yourself, being helpful and generally being a nice guy.

    Don’t just use Twitter – USE Twitter.

  2. Amrit Gill Says:
    October 19th, 2010 at 11:21 am

    Kev, thanks for the blinding comment, I needed a better close to the post and your comment is just that – I think we simply take it for granted as a “facebook” alternative when it is so much more. We just really need to take a moment and just USE TWITTER.

  3. robwatts Says:
    October 19th, 2010 at 11:38 am

    Amrit, very well said – An example of crowd sourcing and the wisdom of the crowds in action.

    The great thing about Twitter is that it is many things to many people. The way in which we use it does indeed overlap into all sorts of spheres. We can fly off on tangents and have a giggle one minute and then get all serious or techy the next.

    Crikey, prior to Twitter I didn’t even know you. I’ve formed a few excellent relationships and friendships through Twitter, a trend I see continuing.

    I think you (and @Goosh) above make some excellent points on engagement and how that does have a level of reciprocity too. We all like to be liked and generally tend like people who like us. Add a little expanded network reach and apply the old maxim of a friend of yours is a friend of mine and some might say it’s a recipe for a sure fire win! :)

    Good stuff mate, more of the same please ;)

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