My distaste for Twitter has been no secret to those around me. Like millions of other people, I continued to chastise it for the short mindless drivel, shot out across the internet for all to see and no one to care. Then I finally created (and actually published) a gallery to show off my photography and realized how I could leverage Twitter to act as an easily updateable, personal RSS feed. In addition to this customized stream of self-publishing, I can directly interact with some of the best photographers in the world. I can read what they read, I can view their work as they post it to their own personal sites, and with incredible ease, send a message directly to them.

It was during my thoughts around this last point that I realized the true allure and power of Twitter. The middle-men connecting the average person with anyone has been removed, whether they know them personally or not. First off – I in no way assume this has not been thought of before, or never been discussed; as I’m a firm believer that anything you think of is either unoriginal or wrong.

In several seconds, I can send off a message to anyone in the world, and thanks to Google, it’s generally easy to find the Twitter handle of anyone I want. At first the simplicity of sending your Saturday morning message of “@jderoner you were so wasted last night!!” obfuscates the power behind the service. But think about it more deeply: you can choose anyone. Whether it’s my childhood idol, a venture capitalist, a prolific blogger, one of the founders of Google, or my neighbor upstairs, I can feel as if my voice has directly made it to their ears. It’s perceived as a direct connection to this individual.

I vividly remember the days of mailing off my beloved baseball cards to some of my favorite players in the hopes they would be returned in the self addressed, stamped envelope with the scribe of the person I watched every day on TV. Autographs are about establishing a connection between you and your idol – little more. Twitter provides the virtual version of this connection and it can happen in seconds.

And just how some of my baseball cards would be returned with a generic autograph stamped on by some MLB intern, some of these accounts aren’t actually managed by these individuals. But when they are authentic, it accomplishes a lot. Fans feel connected to those they adore. Celebrities are connected to those that adore them – which allows them to have personal conversations in a controlled environment with little risk. This is incredibly cool.

So it’s not like you needed it, but props to you, @Jack and @eV, on creating something that undoubtedly went beyond the scope of what you ever thought it could be.

Social Media · Twitter

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