Yesterday I was taken into central London for a couple of different meetings. The meetings went well, but that is not the point of this entry. The point is that the two meetings were some four hours apart, and I didn’t really know what to do with my time between the two of them. The first part of this problem was dealt with looking at some iCandy (mmmm apple store goodness), followed by some much delayed shopping. But this still left me with several hours to kill.
Okay, thought I, this is the world of web 2.0, social networking, all that jazz, let’s see whether I, with my minimal little network, can pull off one of those stories you read so much of from those incredibly connected types. You know the people I mean, they live with one hand permanently on their iPhone, send multiple updates on their twitter and facebook and blog and …
… ah yes, I am one of those. Except I’ve always rather felt that my social network just doesn’t actually live up to that. I have less than 40 followers on twitter (of which at least 15 I am sure are just being polite, or don’t really use it), I have probably no more than 20 regular readers of my blog and all in all I more of a wannabe, rather than an actual ‘digerati’ (or whatever it is that people more connected than I would be described as).
Anyway, the point is, I posted a tweet that said “Help me I’m bored and cheap, I have no imagination or inclination for looking things up”. Actually what I said was:
15 minutes later as I wandered around a small retail art gallery just off carnaby street, I got a phone call from Martin inviting me to swing by his office, which fulfilled all of the criteria, plus giving me a nice opportunity to catch up with a friend.
So well done twitter. And well done me – such a small digital network, and it still provided me with evidence that it can be practically useful, as well as just an opportunity to spout off small messages of little import.
The only minor downside to this otherwise wonderful tale of twitter-goodness is that in fact, Martin spotted my message on facebook (all my tweets show up as status updates).
But the principle is sound. Right?
(a more sober analysis of my use of twitter is here)