Three years ago today… May 3, 2007.
Yes, I don’t know why I remember dates like that… just like I don’t know why I remember the names of people I’ve met only once in my life, or the phone numbers of childhood friends or what we were doing that time
when my mom…
Uh… let’s leave that one alone today.
But there I was… three years ago, working on a project for a struggling business owner when the Vice President of Sales walked into the office and said, “Steve, you have to go to twitter.com and get an account… it’s going to be the next big thing!”
This brief interaction was followed closely by TWO very interesting events.
FIRST, that particular Vice President was fired by the CEO shortly thereafter… apparently for being too Visionary, and…
SECOND, Twitter… became the next big thing.
Hmm…
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Now, I must say that having seen Twitter for the first time just weeks after the big roll-out at Austin’s SXSW Festival, I was struggling to see the significance.
If they want to tell their friends what they had for breakfast or that they’re just about to get in the shower, I thought, why don’t they just call them and tell them?
“No, you don’t get it, Steve!” I heard. “Now you can tell the WHOLE WORLD what you’re having for breakfast!!!” It’s unfortunate but I think that it was this statement, overheard by the CEO, that got the VP fired!
Ah, yes… but you know, the truth was just under the surface.
You see, just because those were the issues that many were tweeting about, didn’t mean that’s what we all needed to tweet about. Yes, it turns out… the mundane… the uninteresting… the truly unremarkable and the NSFW… were just options… but not THE ONLY options!
Light-bulb moment…
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Tens of thousands of followers later… I have some of the most important work and relationships in my life because this technology allowed a connection… and your story is likely the same.
New relationships around the world… invitations to travel… opportunities to impact causes and develop projects that we’d never have known existed otherwise.
And more…
We’ve reconnected with folks we hadn’t seen in decades… offered help and assistance when and where it was the right thing to do… and we’ve laughed and cried and prayed with and for others who were complete strangers just fifteen months ago.
And of the tens of thousands of new contacts, our lives have been made richer and fuller by a handful of new friends that we would willingly fight and die for… and who undoubtedly would do the same for us.
Then again, it needn’t be that heavy…
If you really just want to tell someone about breakfast (or even the lack thereof), go ahead and send it. You never know… it might just be the makings of the next great friendship!
I look forward to hearing from you!
http://twitter.com/stevebuelow
Photo Credit:
Did that CEO ever realize his mistake for firing someone that could’ve rocketed his sales using twitter?
It always makes me laugh how some people, great or small, just have small brains! Thanks for some awesome insight into Twitter!
Thanks Paul!
You know, I carefully selected the phrase “struggling business owner” to describe what was happening at this particular company, and then promptly neglected to draw the line to WHY this individual was struggling in the first place.
Of course, you absolutely nailed it… the struggle, as so often is the case, is an issue of vision and thinking, both seeing and understanding the opportunities in front of us – Steve
PS: And unfortunately the answer to your question, I believe… is no.
Well, I can’t say that I even had anything more than coffee for breakfast, But I did start my day with setting up my very own twitter account (@michaelwiesman).
I’ve buckled in and am ready for the adventure wherever I may go. Thanks again Steve!
Coffee and Twitter… sounds like a pretty good start to me!! Have an awesome day, Mike! – Steve