I live in two worlds: My social media world and then my real world.
Both of these worlds are lived separately from each other, mainly because they never really interact. I have friends from High School and College that are not on twitter, don’t read my blog, and never email me, but yet we see each other weekly. I have other friends that are on twitter, read my blog, and email me once in a while but we have never actually met in real life.
It is strange to have these two worlds which do not intertwine. For most people twitter is something you do online. It is completely separate from real life.
You ever wonder what Twitter would look like in real life? The guys at CollegeHumor.com helped illustrate Twitter in Real Life with this popular video found here:
As funny as that video is, you see the absurdity that can come from twitter in real life.
But lately I have been using twitter in real life to follow up on conversations and new friendships…
Time + Wifi + People = Starbucks
Its a natural marriage for a guy that likes coffee, free wifi, and people. I have met many people at Starbucks and have had some good conversations with them. Last week I met a guy named Russ. He is a local youth minister and is getting ready to start graduate school (I myself am involved in the youth area and am getting ready to start graduate school). We talked for a while about church, books, music and coffee.
At the end of our conversation, I asked him if he was a regular to this Starbucks? He said it was his first time in this Starbucks and probably wouldn’t return since he lives 30 minutes away. We said our goodbyes and he walked out the door. I was kind of bummed knowing that I would probably not get to talk to him again unless we had a chance meeting.
Then it hit me, I should have asked that guy if he was on Twitter.
Follow Up
Twitter in real life for me is using a great tool to follow up on conversations with people that I have met and want to get to know better. This takes out the idea of chance meetings or the awkward situation of asking a stranger for their cell phone number, or even going a step further and asking them if they want to go and get lunch.
Instead, twitter provides a way for you to continue your conversation online through the public square. I have gone as far as to order business cards that simply have my twitter name on them. I will start to carry these around and any time I make a connection with someone I will give them a card that has my twitter handle and my website.
I love that twitter provides us a simple way of engaging with others in a non-threatening environment. Twitter is not a phone call, not an email, or a blog comment. Instead it is a chance to ask a question, provide a link, and interact with friends in 140 characters.
There are several twitter friends that I have that I would feel completely comfortable with meeting in real life. I mean I stayed at @Human3rror‘s house and he had never actually met me before. Twitter provides us a way to get to know each other at a distance and yet still cultivate a relationship.
Real Twitter in Real Life
- Business opportunities. I can see a photographer meeting with a potential client and giving that client a card that has his website and twitter handle on there. What a great way to let them follow you from a distance, get to know you and see how you interact with others.
- Ministry opportunities. What better way for a minister that is out in the community to offer a non-threatening non-prying feeling to others than to just interact over twitter and have that relationship naturally move to a more personal one over time.
- Blogging opportunities. Twitter in real life can often be a great glimpse into someones creativity and thoughts. What better way to give people a quick sneak peak into what you do and provide them a place to read further about your feelings and thoughts. I do not know about you, but telling someone that you are a blogger and they should check out your stuff is a little awkward. But instead, tell them about your twitter handle and let them discover it for themselves.
- Date opportunities. Of course me being a single guy I had to bring this one up. This takes that awkward blind date feeling away and lets you grow a friendship with the opposite sex (for single guys and gals only) and who knows, it could lead to a twitter marriage. I call this t-harmony “connecting single tweets to a life time of tweetups” or something like that.
Any thing you would add to the list? Have you used Twitter in real life?
Nathan says
Love this topic. I was first introduced to Twitter by real life friends, so I got started a little differently. Then I started meeting some great people all over the world and started developing a bond with them even though I’d never met them. It was weird at first, but this past February I got the chance to meet @adamandkaren who I’d been ‘tweeting’ with for several months. We’ve talked by phone several times and got to meet up when my family was in PA. It was really cool, there wasn’t really an awkwardness because we’d already been talking for several month… something not typical when you’re introduced to someone new for the first time. It was nice to just hang out. Wasn’t a fan of Twitter at first, but this is the reason I’ve grown to love it – that and it helps me keep a pulse on the ministry/design world outside of the small bubble I live in.
Tom says
I’m with you on the lack of awkwardness. I’ve met a number of people at a local coffee shop after I first met them on Twitter and it was like picking up a conversation.
Nick Shoemaker says
w00t!
Kyle Reed says
Those are the exact reasons why I love twitter.
Jim Gray says
in the next few weeks i will meet a whole bunch of tweeps in real life…
Kyle Reed says
wish I was going to be there
Bill Wolfe says
Great topic. @bradruggles and I live in the same town. We didn’t know each other before twitter. Brad reached out to me and we got together at Starbucks for a coffee. He’s a cool guy. He told me one of his goals was to make twitter more personal and actually meet local people.
@bradruggles, I know you read this blog – it’s been too long, we should grab coffee again sometime soon!
Kyle Reed says
Thats a really cool story. Tweetups FTW
brett barner says
I consider Twitter friends like real life friends. I probably interact with more of them than people in real life. I’m always surprised when people bring up something from the blog or Facebook in real conversation, but never commented or “liked” it or left any digital footprint to say that they read it.
BTW – Looks like the video was disabled. =/
Tom says
Word. There are a handful of people that I interact with daily via Twitter (we even started a fight club, but I can’t talk about it ;).
Kyle Reed says
Ya the video has been.
You are right, it is really weird when someone says “Ya I was reading your blog the other day” or “did you read about so and so” it is weird, mainly because you have no clue they are there.
Grant Jenkins says
Loved this post, Kyle! You mentioned a lot of great stuff. Lately I’ve been using twitter search to find, connect with and engage people who are tweeting about the same things I am tweeting about at the same time. A few times, that has turned into real-life coffee hangs with cool new people who I would have other wise never met. I’m a people person all day, so I love that!
Kyle Reed says
Thanks Grant. That is a great idea.
What are your search terms?
Jyess Folsom says
I enjoyed reading this. Favorite quote – “I call this t-harmony “connecting single tweets to a life time of tweetups” or something like that.” HI-larious!
Kyle Reed says
🙂
Tom says
I met the entire 8BIT team before actually meeting ’em face-to-face at North Point (save for you).
Kyle Reed says
One day my friend, one day.
Or how about when are you coming to STL?
Nick Shoemaker says
I want to be able to say this. Please? 🙂
Stephen Bateman says
Nice. I’ve met people I’ve seen on Twitter before too. I think as the service gets better, more like-minded people who are geographically close to one another will be able to connect. Out of a couple hundred people I follow on Twitter, there are probably 5 that live in my city who I wouldn’t otherwise know.
Kyle Reed says
Ya i love discovering that someone lives 15 minutes away from you.
Now to just meet up with everyone.
bondChristian says
Yeah, I’ve not used Twitter in real life at all… not the way you’re talking about it here. I might know someone then connect on Twitter but not a first time thing.
I use facebook for that. And I think it’s better for it since, at least for now, facebook is more popular. I actually wrote about this a while back too (from the facebook perspective). I use facebook like a business card – but it’s way more personal.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Kyle Reed says
I think I would do the same with Facebook, but to be honest I never even go on the site and do not really care for it at all. But the same could be applied.
Andy Wittwer says
Our youth group leaders found out Steve Fee (@feeband), a Christian artist whose songs we sing in worship, was in town and asked every tweep they knew to send a tweet to the band and ask them to hang out and lead worship – thanks to over 60 people sending an @ reply or direct message, they came! It was pretty cool!
Stuart says
I keep my digital lives ‘mostly’ apart.
I got into blogging to keep my disparate family updated on our family happenings. It worked then and is still working now. Then FB happened and I signed up and I’m happy to report that 95% of the folks on my FB friends list are folks I actually know and meet – again it’s a way to keep up to date with them and vice versa.
Twitter became like an RSS app to me. It’s got folks I believe are of interest to follow and some I’ve struck up a relationship with and would love to meet F2F one day and the rest I still hope for a more interactive twitter experience from them rather than the insular approach I see most twitterers taking.
Great post and reminds me that (certainly with younger folks) asking for a twitter ID is probably far easier than handing them my business card!