Couldn't have said it better myself. Twitter has changed so much about how I do things. I've gained a ton of new friends, landed many strong professional contacts, helped me work on brevity (some would suggest that to be a weakness of mine but I dunno...) and most importantly, Twitter has provided an outlet for me to share ideas and work in progress with a massive community of people that are professional and in academia alike.
The coolest aspect of Twitter to me is that each user develops their own social circle. You self-police your followers, and in turn this manages (mostly) who follows you. I've refined my circle to be made up of almost entirely animation/VFX/3D artists as well as tech people. Now I have a crowd of like-minded people that understand what it is I do, and when I post work or ask questions, I get GREAT feedback.
I'm anxious to meet up with people I meet on Twitter. Cliff, it's going to be a pleasure to share a beer with you in Detroit. I can't wait for SIGGRAPH, where I'll meet Chris White and many other graphics Tweeps that I've been in contact with for almost a year now. The opportunity for strong friendships is always ripe on twitter.
And for a guy who's generally very introverted about doing such a thing, Twitter has allowed me to openly network and meet many interesting new people. That, by itself, is powerful.
"And for a guy who's generally very introverted about doing such a thing, Twitter has allowed me to openly network and meet many interesting new people. That, by itself, is powerful."
A man that "gets it".
I have to imagine 99% of the people that see the service for the first time just don't see the value in it. When the light bulb goes off though, its a real door opener.
I think for someone to really get into Twitter, they need to have a base network to begin with. Friends, coworkers, anyone to follow immediately. When I first joined twitter some 3 years ago, I didn't have anyone to follow, and it quickly lost it's purpose to me. Once I got into Icrontic and found out a few of the guys used it, I joined and followed them. Through my interactions with them, I found other interesting people to follow, then once I started to see how enjoyable it was, started to seek out people that shared my interests.
Now it's a powerful part of my daily routine. It's honestly one of the biggest reasons why I got a smartphone.
You know, when I joined Twitter, I only had Brian to follow. One person has become hundreds. It doesn't take much to get started, but Twitter has certainly changed my life. New friends, new opportunities, new conversations, new interests... Not quite sure what I or Icrontic would do without it.
I had never even heard of Twitter til I started working at my current job. Now though, I can't do without it. Most of my coworkers have Twitter and it's how we all communicate with each other when not at work. For something so simple it's ridiculously useful.
I was a complete twitter skeptic at first, primarily because I didnt see the incremental value over phone texting. See my first blog post mentioning Twitter here. I say, "Some are calling Twitter the “killer app†of social media. I’m about to take my first dive into the deep end of the Twitter pool at Computex, but frankly, from the outside looking in, it looks more like the overkill app to me. Nonetheless, we’re going in, so if you’re on Twitter, you can follow us."
Twitter to me is a great way to develop and foster 2-way dialogues with a lot of very awesome people. So for me, its all about engagement. What I never expected was to meet such awesome folks like the people at Icrontic. If I hadnt done Twitter, I would have never met Cliff and I would never have met Icrontic.
I'm with Cliff and the other Twitter fans, I'm addicted to Twitter, granted but it's been such an awesome experience for me and I wouldn't have found Icrontic without meeting Lynx on Twitter. Massive win IMHO.
That's the thing about twitter, I don't think its clear to anyone what the value is at first. It takes a little while to build some contacts, to start building a presence and reputation there. As you work with it, you get more and more out of it. Its an old case of getting what you give. It takes some time, but I would encourage anyone to try it.
I'm still trying to figure out how to use social media. I can't talk about anything work-related and since I pretty much work 60 hrs a week that doesn't leave much else to talk about.
I'm still trying to figure out how to use social media. I can't talk about anything work-related and since I pretty much work 60 hrs a week that doesn't leave much else to talk about.
-drasnor
you know, I don't really talk about work all that much. When I'm at the studio, it's the same thing. I'm operating camera, I'm moving faders.. pretty much all there is to it.
What really propelled Twitter for me was when I started just talking about things I'm into and finding people that are into the same things. Art, 3D, VFX, animation, filmmaking, graphics... I tweet about what I've learned, or what I'm playing with on my PC, and have had great discussions and critiques with those I follow.
Twitter is about 'what are you doing'. That's pretty much the worst way to put it, in my opinion. I found it's strength to be talking to those about everything but.
0
BlackHawkBible music connoisseurThere's no place like 127.0.0.1Icrontian
edited June 2009
I'll honestly say I only joined Twitter to keep up with IC friends since some of the stuff I read on IRC or forums felt like an inside joke.
Just today is when I actually ventured forward and asked for some tech people to follow. I'm gonna try and use it now to try and keep up to date with tech.
While it may be easier in Detroit, it's pretty hard to find any good PR people to follow much less local people. I guess the whole Twitter frenzy hasn't really reached PR yet.
Hey Cliff, great post! I met you through Twitter and have shared some fun converstaions over time. It's been a lot of fun hanging out in our little community, talking about and helping out great companies like AMD, Antec and talking shop Let's keep it going!
I find twitter difficult to do without sounding self indulgent you need to either be famous (however you might still sound a bit arrogant), someone who delivers news or someone who uses it for conversations
Cliff_Forster
Icrontian
Comments
The coolest aspect of Twitter to me is that each user develops their own social circle. You self-police your followers, and in turn this manages (mostly) who follows you. I've refined my circle to be made up of almost entirely animation/VFX/3D artists as well as tech people. Now I have a crowd of like-minded people that understand what it is I do, and when I post work or ask questions, I get GREAT feedback.
I'm anxious to meet up with people I meet on Twitter. Cliff, it's going to be a pleasure to share a beer with you in Detroit. I can't wait for SIGGRAPH, where I'll meet Chris White and many other graphics Tweeps that I've been in contact with for almost a year now. The opportunity for strong friendships is always ripe on twitter.
And for a guy who's generally very introverted about doing such a thing, Twitter has allowed me to openly network and meet many interesting new people. That, by itself, is powerful.
A man that "gets it".
I have to imagine 99% of the people that see the service for the first time just don't see the value in it. When the light bulb goes off though, its a real door opener.
Now it's a powerful part of my daily routine. It's honestly one of the biggest reasons why I got a smartphone.
Twitter to me is a great way to develop and foster 2-way dialogues with a lot of very awesome people. So for me, its all about engagement. What I never expected was to meet such awesome folks like the people at Icrontic. If I hadnt done Twitter, I would have never met Cliff and I would never have met Icrontic.
That alone makes it all worth it. Take care.
seconded
That's the thing about twitter, I don't think its clear to anyone what the value is at first. It takes a little while to build some contacts, to start building a presence and reputation there. As you work with it, you get more and more out of it. Its an old case of getting what you give. It takes some time, but I would encourage anyone to try it.
-drasnor
you know, I don't really talk about work all that much. When I'm at the studio, it's the same thing. I'm operating camera, I'm moving faders.. pretty much all there is to it.
What really propelled Twitter for me was when I started just talking about things I'm into and finding people that are into the same things. Art, 3D, VFX, animation, filmmaking, graphics... I tweet about what I've learned, or what I'm playing with on my PC, and have had great discussions and critiques with those I follow.
Twitter is about 'what are you doing'. That's pretty much the worst way to put it, in my opinion. I found it's strength to be talking to those about everything but.
Just today is when I actually ventured forward and asked for some tech people to follow. I'm gonna try and use it now to try and keep up to date with tech.
While it may be easier in Detroit, it's pretty hard to find any good PR people to follow much less local people. I guess the whole Twitter frenzy hasn't really reached PR yet.