I attended the first Social Media Breakfast - Tech Valley this morning. It was a gathering of people from all walks of life and all sorts of professional fields to talk about all things social networking-related.I went partially for business reasons – looking for ways to improve WNYT’s social media standing – and partially for fun as an amateur consumer/producer of blogs, tweets and pointless Facebook junk.
There were certain names I’ve come to recognize from following them on Twitter or reading local blogs and I was looking forward to meeting some of these folks face-to-face.
Much to my surprise, people seemed just as interested in meeting little ol’ me! When I walked into the room, the event organizer, Amy Mengel, spotted me and said, “It’s nice to see more than just the top of your head.” Mary Darcy, one of the people behind All Over Albany, introduced herself to me, saying she follows me on Twitter.
There was another person, Kristen Campbell, who recently started following WNYT’s Twitter feed. When she did, she publicly asked who was doing the tweeting for the station. So I announced who I was to all of our followers. It turns out she was at the event today and upon spotting my name tag, she introduced herself.
Not to go all narcissistic and “yeah, me,” but it really took me aback that anyone would actually know and/or care who I was. I work in a business with people who are easily recognized. I’m not used to being one of them.
It just drives home the point that…people are actually looking at this stuff! It also illustrates the power of social networking to bring people together – not only the people you already know (Facebook friends), but also the new people you don’t know yet (Twitter followers).