Twitter is different
Today, I received a personal message from Ramit Sethi. A few weeks ago, I received a personal (direct) message from Penelope Trunk. Additionally, Robert Scoble has sent me personal messages as well. Even further, several times I have had my messages relayed to hundreds of thousands of people by Scoble and others.
This hasn’t been possible in the past. Think back to before the internet… or hell, think back to just before Twitter. How could you get in touch with anyone who is considered “famous”? Emailing them was/is a waste. Trying to get their autograph at a show was/is all you could hope for. The only pseudo-successful means available to the random individual was when bands or other famous figures would have special offers if you join their VIP fan club at the cost of however much money, so you could get invited to a “Meet and Greet” which mostly consisted of a single handshake and a “hello.”
With Twitter, however… I ask a question, and it gets answered. I post a message, and my followers see it, among which are people such as Robert Scoble and Hiten Shah. It’s a minimal time investment due to the limitation on characters in a tweet, so my messages are not regarded as time-wasting fan-service. Their responses are also limited to the classic 140 characters, so replying is not a grand investment for them, either.
Twitter is a direct connection to people who could not possibly have time to notice me otherwise. That’s a lot better than nothing.
