Geeking Out: Social Media and the Magical World of Twitter

I never saw myself as particularly tech-savvy.  But I guess in this day and age, everyone around my age is pretty aware of the online social media world.  And, if you’re like me and have both interests and friends interested in the up-and-coming new platforms and in the ways to stay connected without selling your online privacy (and soul), I guess you do end up being pretty knowledgeable in the ins and outs of various social media bits. Plus, with my unique name, the narcissistic side of me always wants to join a new social media site first and clinch down a URL with my name attached.

I bring this up because of two things.

The first (and less interesting) thing is that the internship and part-time job that hired me both did so for my experiential knowledge with social media.  I think that blew my mind – that something that was just a side interest became the “thing” that clinched me these jobs.

The second AND AWESOME thing is…………….. NICHOLAS KRISTOF RETWEETED ME!  I read his interview with Ahmadinejad the other day, and I didn’t have time to write about it.  I could tweet it however, so I did!  (Even though I know not a lot of people actually follow me on twitter, I do reach people through google buzz.)  Anyway, I seriously got all aflutter when I saw this in my inbox yesterday.

This is why social media is so awesome.  Yes, on one hand it may give you the illusion of relationships that you don’t have.  But on the other hand, it does set you up in a sort of quasi-relationship you NEVER would have had.  Basically, Nicholas Kristof saw my tweet and liked it enough to use it as a small way to draw awareness to his interview!  That’s an honor/privilege in itself.  I know, I’m a dork (but guys, this is Nicholas Kristof!!!!!!!).  I had to hold myself back from retweeting this with the description “OMG @NICKKRISTOF RT’D ME” because … well, you know.

Anyway, today when I checked into twitter (I don’t tweet that often), guess what I found?

Four more retweets!  It dawned on me that yes, Social media is a big deal.  If you want your name out there, the best idea is to find a way to “dialogue” via social media and you end up popping up in other places. (Kind of like this dude on tumblr).  I suppose my takeaway lesson is more of a confirmation on the ubiquity of social networking.  Some of you know that I hope to start a small-scale school one day.  Part of the purpose of this blog is to see the reception of my ideas in the general public.  Currently my readers (all six of you) are my friends.  But, what I would like to do is see if it’s possible to tap into other ideas through mediums like these.  I guess the answer is yes.  It’s just determining how much time to invest in these issues that I need to hash out.

Okay, okay fine.  I just really wanted to show off the fact that…… NICHOLAS KRISTOF RETWEETED ME!  Now doesn’t that make you want to follow my tweets too?