I have been using social media/Web 2.0 tools for some time. What I find amazing about it is the number of interactions I get from people. Most of these are on twitter, though not exclusively. I remember being impressed by the fact that not only could I follow Stephen Fry on twitter, but he was following me! And not long after that I sent a message to Tim O’Reilly and he replied! I thought: wow, this is amazing.
Since then, this has happened more than I can probably count. I’ve received messages from Mark Bittman, Susan Orlean, Tracey Thorn, Doug Saunders, Glenn Greenwald, Josh Marshall, Lucy Waverman and the mayor of Toronto, David Miller, on twitter. I’ve had Billy Strayhorn’s relatives comment on a blog post I wrote about him. I’ve had people from NBC, various wineries and breweries send me emails about things I wrote on their products. Just as important as well known people though are all the smart and funny and charming and wonderful folks I have met serendipitously since then. It’s been great fun to read all there messages and exchange links and jokes and other bit of information and wisdom. I feel like I have stumbled across this great bar with some of the best people you would ever want to meet, and I get to meet them daily.
I’ve learned alot from using social media over the time I have been using it, but what I have particularly enjoyed is connecting with people. It’s quite amazing.
For now, I remain: Bernie Michalik (blm849) on Twitter.
Smart People I Know 
Great to hear about the power and reach of social media from a personal perspective.
Do you have any tips or advise on how you ensure (or maybe you can’t or don’t) you are “talking” to the actual person, especially famous people?
Good question! Easiest ways to tell you are not dealing with a person are: they have no bio information, they have a handle/user name that doesn’t align with their actual name of identity, they are following way more people than they are being followed, and if they have around 10-12 tweets that appear mostly random, with the last one being something promoting a product. The good thing about spammers on twitter so far is how obvious they are. All that makes it easier to avoid them.
Now, there are famous people on twitter who actually have someone else do their tweeting for them. Some people, like Paul Krugman, used twitter only to promote his latest blog post. His blog is very personal, but his tweets are not. Others, like Sarah Palin, apparently use a ghost writer (tweeter?) to write her posts. I see alot of celebrities come and go, and mostly it is to promote whatever it is they are promoting. Once they are done with that, they slow down.
Others, like Leonard Nimoy, uses it to keep in touch with his fans, and as a means to reflect on his life and his career. He has posted some great photos on his family, for instance.
As for talking to a real person, it has been pretty obvious so far. Most times they are responding directly to something I sent them or something they read that I posted. I asked Mark Bittman about a criticism he made about McDonald’s, and he responded and then blogged about it later. Likewise I was talking to Doug Saunders and I used the phrase that he liked and used in a column. Not that either of these guys need my help: far from it. But it shows me that the comments are going to them.
Great post! I find twitter is also a great way to keep in contact with people I only meet up with infrequently (far less irritating than facebook–no vampire requests).
Yes! I block vampires on twitter,too! That said, there are alot of Hulks on twitter for some reason. (e.g. DrunkHulk).Still, I prefer Twitter to Facebook.
Also this week I chatted on twitter with Mikko H. Hypponen (IT security guru), George Stroumboulopoulos (from CBC’s The Hour), and Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence and many more books)