Burt’s Answer to J.B. (I mean Joe)
A Few Thoughts While on Vacation; Twitter, Community on the Internet, and The End of The World as We Know It.
My old college roommate J.B responded to my invitation to “follow me” on Twitter by responding that he had better things to do than waste his time on Twitter. I realize that what he says may be true.
But, if Twitter is a waste of time, I am not sure why Twitter Power 2.0 “How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time”, by Joel Comm is the most interesting and helpful book I have read to date on social media marketing.
Many of my contemporaries assert that Facebook, MySpace, Linked In, and their ilk likewise waste lots of time. I don’t think so, and Joel Comm makes a powerful case for Twitter. Most of you know that the FaceBook and Linked In communities, while virtual, are very real.
Keep in mind that J.B. is retired, and when employed he was Parole and Probation Office for the Columbus Ohio Region. He hardly needed to advertise for work. Yet, J.B. is a marketer extraordinaire. Each year he diligently contacts every member of Wheeling WV’s Linsly School (formerly Linsly Military Institute) Class of 1964 seeking donations. Linsly is a remarkable school, whose sophomores perform above the national average for seniors on the S.A.T. Our class has been held together, at least half of our 41 living members, with the help of J.B., Ed, and the Internet.
But, why do we need to leave the comfort of e-mail for other means, some of which appear to be trivial? In thinking of e-mail, think buggy whips, fax machines, phone booths, I.B.M. Selectric Typewriters, and home phone landlines. The time for these things came and went or is going. We just hate to lose traditional e-mail. It is so neat.
When terrorists slipped ashore from Pakistan and attacked the hotel in Mambai, India, and when unrest errupted in Iran after their elections, Twitterers, and cell phone photos, and videos, started leaking out of the country. They presented a “realtime a picture of what was happening there. It is now part of the communication fabric of the world.
Today, I posted a Tweet, which only reached my Facebook friends, about my breakfast of lox and bagels. Four people, and not folks I see every day, responded with enthusiam to the post. Jerry reminded me I also had to have capers, and I was pleased to let him know I am sufficiently adept at this food to have ordered them “extra”. My ordering that dish told them something about me, and their responses told me something about them. Our exchanges took 2-3 minutes, and I think it was worth it. The readers who didn’t reply spent 10 seconds on the 100 character posts. I hope it was worth it to them. If not, they can “hide” me! Ouch.
I am a very intense, small town, personal injury, family law, and civil, trial attorney. Today I am working with my paralegal Letetia we are working to get a “pre-birth order” entered for some surrogate parents, of twins! They live out of state. The “carrier” mom lives locally, and the fetuses are the biological children of the couple who lives out of state. These folks have outraced our adoption statute, and I have done lots of work learning to obtain such an order in WV. That is interesting stuff. I want to write about it on this blog. And I want to write about many other things.
I write with two very pure motives.
1. I love to write and communicate, and share and receive ideas from others. and.
2. I want to make sure others know that I know what I am doing and am on the cutting edge of technology.
The surrogate parents found me through their lawyer, who found me on the Internet. Soon, anyone who wants to find a lawyer will ask a friend who knows the lawyer personally, and will check him/her out on the Internet. Some people don’t know someone who knows a good lawyer, or they are too far away to get the “local scoop”.
Everything I read on “Social Media Marketing” insists I must give away valuable information. I concur. That’s why I want feedback. If what I am supplying is not valuable, I hope someone will tell me!
So, when I post something good, I will “Tweet” it. I won’t post eating a hamburger, but if I try french fried grasshoppers, maybe I will. Our calamari came with thyme dipped in light batter and flash fried. They were tasty. I sprinkled crumbled herbs on my pizza! There’s something perhaps you didn’t know.
This post was written by Burton Hunter