Read on Twitter
How it started... and I almost deleted my account a month later... (thread) https://twitter.com/unmarketing/status/789058271
I joined Twitter like a lot of marketing/tech folks because I "should". Signed up, sent out that tweet and snooped around. Didn't see what all the fuss was about and walked away.
Forgot to delete the account and it sat mostly unused/half-assed until January 2009. I realized if I didn't put effort into it, why would I get something from it? If it's social media, it's fuel is people being social. So I decided to do that.
I started January 2009 with a mission: to be all-in on Twitter every day, for one month. Then I could have a slightly better-educated take on the former 140 character platform. Marketing isn't about the tools you're just familiar w/ personally, but what's best for the biz.
I tweeted 7,000 times that month, 85% of them were replies to other people's tweets. I always believed that relationships build businesses and make your entire life better, I made building them my business.
I went from 1,200 followers to over 10,000. Every piece of business since then has been directly or indirectly because of Twitter. I met @UnAlison here, the book deal for UnMarketing (and the ones since), the UnBookTour of 30 cities was created on here.
I didn't promote a thing on here until I had tweeted/replied 25,000 times. (not a picked amount, just turned out that way). I joined here not to generate business, but because I was searching for a "water cooler"
Being an entrepreneur is incredibly isolating and although I never missed office politics, a boss, people on speakerphone and Brad stealing my frickin lunch AGAIN, I missed the human connection that happens in the staff room around the water cooler.
Twitter made me truly realize that virtual connections can be strong and run deep without being physically near someone. The people that disagreed were like me in Jan 2009. They hadn't given anything to the platform before trying to take.
My friends on here got me through some of the hardest moments of my life then through their 140 characters. They lifted me up, wrapped their virtual arms around me.
I see so much of that now, the virtual arms embracing, supporting, locking in solidarity, patting backs, high-fiving, protecting. And it's all human and authentic.
The point of this is me wanting to say thank-you. To all of you that were here in 2009 and those that are around this water cooler now. Connections aren't less because they're virtual, they're crucial. You're crucial. Your words matter. Your 140/280 character tweet threads matter
