DISQUS

This is very cool, Danny.. thanks for including me. Great seeing all these faces in one place.

p.s. I love Animoto!

Thanks so much for the shout here, Chris. As Amber says, coming from you.. well, you know. ; )

What I've recently realized (and you reinforce it here, in this post and others... always) is that we DO always have to be open to learning from our experiences. So maybe you evolve your speaking style, you learn how to do your job better, you watch and listen and take away from those around you (both those who offer direct advice and those who simply observe). However we might appear to be at the top of your career, or your field, or whatever... there's never a point where we can't learn something, from someone, and often in surprising places.

When you are done learning, really... it's time to get out, move on, till new soil. Haven't we all listened to speakers who were "done"? Who have stopped learning,and it's obvious that they aren't interested in learning anything new? I know I have.... !

p.s. Agree on all your points above (and the folks you name). But the bit about Chris Penn really made me smile... because damn, that dude IS brilliant!

Thrilled you were there, Chris. And I love the concept behind this post -- "souvenirs." Thank you!

The hardest part of journalism for me has always been writing short. Twitter has offered a bit of immersion training there. It's def. helped me get to the point!

Nice perspective, and good point! Thanks, feast.

That would be a riot, if it wasn't also a little sadly desperate.

A word on methodology: I solicited survey responses from people who follow me (@marketingprofs) on Twitter, where I have about 28,000 followers, and then I asked those followers to retweet the survey link. As far as I could tell, about 116 people retweeted the link to their own network of followers; the sizes of their networks varied greatly.

We didn't specify that we were looking for any certain profile of user, but the information that came back from the 432 revealed that the majority were fairly involved with Twitter -- at least, that's our interpretation of someone who spends 2 3/4 hours a day interacting there. Maybe those motivated to respond to the survey are more involved with Twitter than those who didn't. (That's one possible was to look at it.)

The bottom line is that this is a snapshot, an insight into the minds of users. Thanks for letting me clarify.

One of the strengths of Twitter is that there are no "rules." You can follow/unfollow/or use it however you see fit...

That said, that results from the reciprocal following question surprised me. I sort of always assumed that people would feel bad if others didn't follow them back.. but guess that's just me. (Ha.)

For the record, I do follow those who follow me, as a rule. But again, that's just my philosophy/preference.

@elaine The survey was blind; meaning, we didn't collect contact info/name (that was purely optional). Given that, I'm not sure why respondees wouldn't offer the unvarnished truth. Thanks for the comment!

Hmm. 12 step to get back ON? It seems to be that the more sober approach is to be ON the wagon, sometimes. So I wonder if you've actually fallen back off, rather than on? Anyway, I know what you mean...

Oh, and welcome back!

@marketingprofs

Nothing really to add to your post or the comments... except to say that that's one cute Boston bull! ; )

If I were to choose my Twitter name again, I might go with @AnnHandley vs. @MarketingProfs. But what's done is done... and while I know I *could* change it, it's sort of become part of my presence on Twitter. So I'm going with it. For now.

I put one foot in both camps. I am Ann Handley of MarketingProfs, and I let Twitter followers know what we have going on there, as well as what's going on in the industry in general, when I can. But I also don't divorce myself from my personal blog or life outside of my work. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. My view is that people connect with me (and Monty... or Strout... or you.. or whoever) on Twitter in part because of Profs and in part because of my own self. I'm not sure it really matters -- unless, as you point out, I leave Profs. If that were to ever happen (and believe me, I have zero inclination to), I'd leave the Twitter name to someone else, I suppose. That's a risk Profs and I share.

The bottom line for me: I hate managing information of any kind. I hate not being myself -- or being careful -- or reigning myself in. It's easier not to, and it's a whole lot more honest, too.

Happy Birthday Laura! For the record, Justin is a great guy. Not that I need to tell YOU. ; )

Have a wonderful day!

I really do give the Times props.. but I don't see the wisdom of this decision.

Funny, isn't it? Old habits die hard. The Times, for all of its innovations with incorporating video content, and investing in content development online, and reworking its web site, and the like.. still can't help but act as a... well, *newspaper*. Usually, that's ok. I'm actually fine with keeping a gatekeeper at SOME posts.

But this time.. well, I agree with you, Toad. An editor should not be collecting/culling the comments to skim the ones he or she likes best. And I like your word here, "counterrevolutionary." Thankfully, you can say it here, and I can agree with you. (Or will your editor bury my comment? Ha!)

I love that you even *think* of this kind of message.. let alone sending it out sincerely. Nicely done.

This sounds both incredibly awesome and incredibly terrifying. I hope it's the former, for you. And I hope it's not too cold. Pack fleece.

(@marketingprofs on Twitter)

I feel so shallow... because I'm on Twitter to avoid doing anything else. ; )

Seriously, I agree with a few folks here - to listen, learn, and to share. Pretty simple (but powerful) stuff.

Thank you for the thank you. And, thank YOU, too.

; )

I'm mostly kidding when I say that I take Qwitter personally. With my number of followers and their various, unknown objectives, it's obviously impossible to think that it was (literally!) something I said.

I'm actually more like Jim Storer -- I do see who is unfollowing me because I'm curious. I'm less offended than interested. Very often, I notice that my Qwitter unfollows don't use Twitter the way I do: they usually follow/are followed by very few people... or they have tons of people following them but only follow a handful.

I'm always curious about the various ways people use Twitter, or Facebook, or any other social platform. So in a way, Qwitter offers another window thru which to view behavior.

(Providing, of course, you have healthy self-esteem. (ha!))

I'm mostly kidding when I say that I take Qwitter personally. With my number of followers and their various, unknown objectives, it's obviously impossible to think that it was (literally!) something I said.

I'm actually more like Jim Storer -- I do see who is unfollowing me because I'm curious. I'm less offended than interested. Very often, I notice that my Qwitter unfollows don't use Twitter the way I do: they usually follow/are followed by very few people... or they have tons of people following them but only follow a handful.

I'm always curious about the various ways people use Twitter, or Facebook, or any other social platform. So in a way, Qwitter offers another window thru which to view behavior.

(Providing, of course, you have healthy self-esteem. (ha!))

I totally agree. Given his ability to harness social media, the scenario you lay out is not far-fetched by any means.

I know this is very real, but I can't help but crack up over it. And part of me says simply, "Have at it!" That way, terrorists addicted to Twitter won't get anything done, either.. just like me. ; )

Hi Matthew -- This is an interesting issue. I write about business and marketing on the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog, which is to a degree quite serious, but I write what I think of as stuff a little closer to the bone on my personal blog, Annarchy (www.annhandley.com). And I write about parenting issues, which are serious to a different crowd, on ThisMommyGig.org.

So I guess I try to find the right outlet/audience for my various posts, rather than try to fold all the topics into one. But that's just one approach. I've seen others put all their posts under one umbrella. I guess it just depends on your approach and comfort.

I'm thrilled you were there. Thank you.