Thus far I have met two people face-to-face because of Twitter. (Note: The following story was inspired by @ElliFordyce, @JosephRueter, and http://mytwitterstory.com.)
Elli Fordyce (@ellifordyce) :
72-year-old jazz singer based in Yonkers, New York. She’s hipper to social media than most people one-third her age.
We met this January at a little pizza joint situated underneath the train tracks in downtown Yonkers, where I lived until 2009. Elli and I talked life history, life coaching, social media, and music. The conversation was punctuated at regular intervals by the Metro North commuter line and Amtrak trains roaring overhead.
Elli hired me as her social media adviser to help promote her albums. I hope to stay in touch with her long after she has surpassed all need for my advice.
Joseph Rueter (@josephrueter) :
Entrepreneur and sharp-as-a-razor proprietor of extendr.com, the ingeniously simple web link headquarters for anyone and everyone. (Think of extendr as your virtual business card.)
Joseph and I met this month at the Caribou Coffee on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul, the city in which we both currently reside. He regaled me with some interesting insider information about how he goes about designing and implementing various social networking strategies.
Joseph urges all those who meet online to “Don’t just wave. Say hello.”
Twitter rocks. For me, no other social network I use has been single-handedly responsible for an in-person meeting. I hope to have many more “tweetups” in the coming months.
This autumn, 2009, I am spearheading a westward invasion from Minnesota to California, and some of you are coming with me. It’s going to be huge. Details at http://tinyurl.com/invadecalifornia.
