Twitter is My Village, Revisited

I thought this originally ran on January 16, 2008, but it was the 10th. Either way, it’s been a year since this ran and a lot has changed. Shel Israel is hard at work on what promises to be a great Twitter for Business book, Twitterville. The Frozen Pea Fund raised more than $30,000 to fund cancer research.  The anniversary of Ashley’s death came and went and her Twitter page stands with the hauntingly plainstated final tweet “Ashleys Funeral is going to be on Saturday.”

Twitter increased in size by 752% in 2008. What is more, I believe more than ever that the size of peoples’ hearts, from being on Twitter, increase every day. I believe that the range and reach of connections, and therefore opportunities, accorded those who engage on Twitter is growing in an unprecedented way too.

I’ve come to believe so passionately in the potential of what I now call “microsharing” via mobile social networks that I relaunched my company – solo and self-funded (ask me about my credit cards!) although I am a single mom on pretty limited funds – to help interpret and understand its business, personal and cultural ramifications. Yes, we’re busy with many projects, some clients and bright hopes for the future but it’s still very tough for companies see the full opportunity here and come to us for more than free advice. It scares me a lot sometimes, but I don’t care. I launched into the worst economic quarter in memory and arguably should not be still standing. But I’m driven by belief on this one, and you just can’t derail that.

The true business potential of Twitter — what I sincerely wish for more to see and grasp and understand — is not about setting up an account, getting more followers, running a Twitter campaign or even learning to tweet better. There’s a comprehensive set of opportunities in understanding the information flow, relationship dynamics and cultural influences at play. Very very few companies who are engaged on Twitter are really “getting it” and beginning to tap into the rich underlying potential. Answering “what is the business use of Twitter?” – if one is to answer it comprehensively and ethically – is akin to explaining “the business use of email.” Much of what can now become possible can really help us in the difficult economic times we are facing. For that reason alone, I hope more and more companies “get it,” with OR WITHOUT our assistance in doing so.

If the Cluetrain Manifesto presciently laid out (10 years ago!) pretty much all that has come to pass in terms of conversational business (because this is about social business, not just social marketing), then Twitter is the Cluephone, and it’s ringing off the hook. It seems to me it’s about time businesses learned to step up and answer in a meaningful way.

Anyhow, without further ado, here is the original Twitter is My Village post:

Twitter is My Village (pay attention to the URL and you can tease me about my working title for the post.)

Village?
For me, connecting on Twitter with someone I’ve just met in person is inviting them to live in “my village.” Follow-up won’t be limited to the “nice meeting you” email cul-de-sac. On Twitter, we’ll cross paths incidentally and without pressure. I may bump into them “around town” for maybe a word or two at the “coffee shop” or “post office.” Over time we may discover common interests (aka social objects) in each others’ tweets, and connect more deeply as neighbors or friends.

For a contrived, weird and techy way to communicate, Twitter’s “passive conversation” fosters very natural, gradual relationship-building. I explained about the village to Dan Bricklin, who immediately connected it to the chapter on “taming” and the Fox in The Little Prince.

The Village Mind
New to Twitter, it makes no sense. Post 140 characters into the ether? Stare at the public timeline’s chaos washing over me? Why the h…?

How does Twitter shift from idiotic to amazing? It takes a village – a critical mass of interesting people – to read and write to. When my brain started to connect with the brains (and hearts) of others, it got really, REALLY cool for me. You may be looking for like minds, or you may want to be totally shaken up by new ideas. Both work. One day I suddenly realized this was, for me, tribe-finding. For arguably the first time in my life I didn’t feel as weird and different.

Everyone connects to a different array of tweets and tweeters, so there aren’t discrete villages per se. But, the degrees of separation and connection create layers around each individual that hint at a very sketchy (and Twitter-specific) “social map.” (Often highly removed from who you actually know).

The Village Heart
Right in “my” own village (yours too?) @susanreynolds‘ breast cancer fight and the Frozen Pea Fund bubbled up as a lovely grassroots social movement to rally around and raise support for one of our own. (If you missed it, the story is in today’s Washington Post.) With Twitter though, the “village” feel of intimacy is profoundly global. Her story’s been blogged hundreds of times including Scoble, Loic, TechCrunch and even a link on the BBC home page.

This week in a nearby village, a car crash stole a well-loved young mother. Ashley D. Spencer left behind baby Lucy (2 months old), toddler “Sproglet” and her loving husband. She’d shared her pregnancy on Twitter as @ashpreggo, switched to @AshDMama after baby Lucy’s birth and is the only person I know of who permanently added PEA to her Twitter ID in honor of @susanreynolds. She died, tragically, and FAR too young, as @AshPEAMama. Ashley once sent me this hearty laughter on a very dark day. In her village, her humor and caring touched many lives deeply.

And so our eccentric archipelago of Twitter villages is mourning, and struggling to try to help Ashley’s family. @Mosqueda set up this memorial fund to help with funeral expenses and childcare.

If you’re not on Twitter yet, I don’t blame you if all this seems unrealistic or hyped. But lives and communities are changing, profoundly, over here in this funky little Twecosystem the guys from Obvious built. You might want take a look sometime. I’ll probably see you in the coffee shop.

Tagged as: Twitter, Twitter for business