Knoxville Twitterers: Using the Web to Go Local

According to my “Twitter-stream”, my first “tweet” was on Wednesday, March 19 at 6:36pm when I mentioned my wife and I were going to grab dinner with her parents. Since that time, I’ve continued to add tweets about things I do in or out of the office. Other Twitterers have started “following” me, and I’ve returned the favor. In the process, I’ve started getting to know several other Twitterers. Now my days are punctuated by answering the question, “What are you doing right now?” and reading other’s responses to the same.

For anyone who has ever used the service called Twitter, you know what I’m talking about. For anyone who hasn’t, this may sound like a meaningless and narcissistic waste of time (not to mention a good way to get stalked). If you are in the latter group, I am writing this post to show you how Twitter won me over. If you are a part of the former, keep reading and see if we share a similar Twitter story.

First, A Little Primer
For the uninitiated, Twitter can be best described as a micro-blogging service. Each post you make is prompted by the question “What are you doing right now?” and limited to 140 characters. Twitter lets you follow other Twitter users and lets them follow you. Following someone means that their updates will appear in your Twitter-stream anytime you log on.

Once you’ve used Twitter for a while and started following and being followed by a couple of other Twitterers, you start getting to know each other in a moment-by-moment sort of way. You can even reply to other’s updates or “tweets” and start a mini conversation about things like what you’re watching on TV right now, a good restaurant you discovered or a solution to a fellow Twitterer’s problem at work.

“Ok, I get it, but it still sounds like a waste of time and a distraction from real life.”
If the above comment fits you, you are exactly where I’ve been ever since Twitter was introduced last year. I am not an “early-adopter.” I don’t own an iPhone or a Blackberry. I enjoy technology, yet I am wary of having it creep too far into my life. I can’t even remember why I created my account (I think it may have been to test out a feature of the Jott.com text-to-speech engine). I certainly didn’t expect to keep using the service and much less didn’t expect to start making friends. However, to my surprise, this is exactly what has happened…

Don’t Look Now, You’re Being Followed
Shortly after I started using Twitter, I received an email indicating that another Twitterer, that I’d never met, was “following” me. “That’s strange,” I thought, “why would anyone want to follow me?”

I clicked over to their profile and subsequently visited their website. As it turns out, this follower is in my industry; He manages the multimedia and online efforts for my local newspaper. Since my Twitter profile mentions my home city, links to my blog and I describe myself as “a freelance PHP developer specializing in WordPress”, I figured that our similar interests and close proximity made my updates notable to this fellow web-worker. Still, only being used to “Facebook etiquette,” I didn’t immediately follow him back.

Twitter Followers are Different from Facebook Friends
It didn’t take long for me to realize that the rules of etiquette are different on Twitter as opposed to Facebook. On Facebook, my friends and I only tend to give people we know access to our profiles. If I receive a Facebook friend request from someone I don’t know, I reject it as a general rule.

On the other hand, following someone on Twitter is more like subscribing to a website. The interaction is more casual and lends itself to as much or as little interaction as you desire.

A Local Blog Post Gives Me Some Inspiration
As I continued to use Twitter, I started getting introduced to more and more blogs in my local area (aka Knoxville, TN). This was a new experience for me. I’ve always enjoyed keeping up with national and international news via blogs and other news websites. In addition, I enjoy reading blogs focused on general topics that match my interests. I always saw the web was my door to the rest of the world while my own two feet, eyes and ears would serve as my connection to my local community.

Then one day I happened upon Knoxify.com via a link from Twitter. The folks over at Knoxify bill themselves as:

a blog camp dedicated to the good things in life. In a nutshell, we’re trying to better your life, our life and our communities. It just so happens we do this from our home base in Knoxville.

Here was a blog focused on cultivating conversations pertinent to where I live.

I realized that my use of the web was unbalanced:
I have embraced the world to the exclusion of my own backyard.

While I was browsing their site, I noticed this post which encouraged readers to follow the blog’s authors on Twitter, and they would follow them back. I took them up on their offer. This in turn led to them following me, and via their Twitter streams I’ve been exposed to more local Twitterers with similar interests.

The First Knoxville TweetUp
Now, I am following and being followed by a hand full of other Twitters in Knoxville and the surrounding area. My daily interactions have made me feel much more connected while I’m in my office. What’s more, these virtual connections became infinitely more valuable when Twitter user Whodini suggested on Tuesday that we gather for a “Knoxville Lunch Tweetup.”

So, this past Wednesday, twelve of us gathered at a local restaurant to meet and put faces and names to people we only knew online as: cpknoxify, patrickbeeson, Rootclip, Whodini, gavinbaker, djuggler, LissaKay, lasthome, tohare, z11, and cmm1869. As you can see from the comments on the Tweet-up Round-up over at Knoxify, everyone had a great time as we talked shop and shared stories from our lives.

Prior to using Twitter, not once since I started my freelance career in 2001 had I ever taken the opportunity to meet with any of my peers in the industry. A steady flow of clients and projects has kept me busy in the office. Yet, lately I’ve had the urge to connect with, give back to and learn from local Knoxvillians who make use of the web. The connections I’m making on Twitter and this week’s TweetUp have been a great first-step in that direction. And, I look forward to being a part of what’s to come.

Can I come too?
If all this talk about Twitter has finally convinced you to join in on the fun, creating an account is easy. Once you’re signed up, I’d recommend finding some Twitterers in your local area or some who share a common interest. (For help on finding local Twitters, I recommend using TwitterLocal.) Then start making some tweets and writing your own Twitter story!

Finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, you can find me here.