The World Is Inside Your Computer

Ninety-two is a pretty big number. That is the percentage of consumers who trust peer recommendations over advertising. Because we are all interconnected worldwide by our computing devices, someone in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina can network with someone just as easily in Hammerfest, Norway as they can in their own backyard.

I have four projects underway that hone this point. One is in the same Canadian province, who I first met through a local network group. Two is in Arizona with someone I met through a close friend I've known for years. Three is in New York, who I met through a social network. Four is in Sweden, who I met through a social webhosting site. Then there is my webcasting partner, who I met on a webhosting site through another person I met in LinkedIn.

Every day, my net(work) is cast wider. These are not just passive followers. When I follow someone, it is because they bring value to my feeds. If I didn't already know them, they provide me with education, laughs, inspiration, and friendship.

Networking online isn't just using the Net to connect your name to their profile. The "working" part has to be engaged in order to make those connections meaningful.

My nearly 4,000 Twitter followers in @bookpublish101

Even as time constrains your ability to manage your posts, take your top two or three networks, the ones you see the most interactions from, and pick two to three random people a day to a) respond to something they posted that caught your attention b) tell them something to make their day and/or c) share one of their posts with your followers. It will take you five minutes. If you do that consistently each day, you become a good digital citizen and people will start paying attention to you. In addition to that, make sure you post interesting, entertaining, and inspiring stuff, too.

The number one thing you need to consider is a universal truth: everyone wants to feel like they matter. That's it. If you can make someone feel respected and seen in one moment, that will go around the globe in less time than a paid advertising campaign and with better results. But this isn't about ROI or any of that market speaking buzzword bullshit. It's about people. It's about real connections. Even if you've never met any of them in real life or face-to-face in a webcam, you can still make an impact globally, just by being kind, being respectful, being thoughtful, and being there. Mean what you say. Don't just say it for the sake of making clickbait.

Don't just post and run. Stay and play.

Using a Hashtag to Create a Movement

Twitter is a formidable platform. When it is used for good, there is no greater viral. 

The most powerful symbol on the Internet is this #, the Twitter hashtag. It represents relevant keywords or phrases that anyone can search, then jump into the conversation. 

Using the search tool or by viewing the hashtag list of what is trending right at this moment, you can find breaking news, tips, opinions, election results, popular conversations, or just random stuff any second of any day. 

There are hashtags created to inject some fun, such as #AdviceFromMyPet #MomQuotes #TwoThingsThatDontMix #DisneyPickUpLines or #UnlikelySequel.

There are hashtags that will show up and trend during a high profile event, such as the Super Bowl #leftshark.

People (and companies) try to use hashtags all the time to create followers, such as #FF (Follow Friday), #tbt (Throwback Thursday), or just #love.

#JeSuisCharlie created a worldwide movement after the 2015 shooting at the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris. In English, it means I Am Charlie, and it represents standing up to those who want to silence freedom of speech. It was a hashtag used to mobilize citizen journalists and to honor the integrity of the written word.

#BlackLivesMatter became a household phrase and has been used outside of Twitter as much as on the platform. It is a term that grew out of the disturbing trend of black men dying at the hands of police across the United States. It morphed into a civil rights movement to engage the conversation of how black citizens are being marginalized and oppressed through economic and systematic targeting.

We also witnessed back in 2011 during Egypt's revolution to oust President Hosni Mubarak where Twitter was used to mobilize protesters and as a witness to the events.

However, it was the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests that put Twitter at the top for creating a movement. In a country where Internet was banned, where the only source of news was state-run media, virtual private networks and Twitter were how protesters were able to inform the rest of the world about their plight. But it was #Neda that put the protest into every search engine and every North American news channel. Despite how the Iranian government denied it was brutalizing its citizens, when the image of Neda Agha-Soltan being shot and dying in the street was posted to YouTube, the outrage could be heard around the globe.

Twitter is a powerful instrument for the transmedia toolbox, if it's used right. There is no sure-fire recipe, except that each project has to be evaluated on its own in order to create a strategy. Perhaps the best advice the Internet can give us is to think through the what-could-go-wrong possibilities before pushing it live.

Twitter Amplifies Voices and Brings People Together

Watching UFC online while talking about it with other viewers in Twitter.

We no longer view things on a single screen. When we watch television, attend live events, chances are we have a device handy so we can tweet out our thoughts, Instagram a photo, and join the discussion around a hashtag.

That was certainly the case for the screenshot above. Watching #UFC127 online, I could open up my Hootsuite account, find the hashtag, and see what everyone was saying, then respond to tweets or post fresh ones of my own. I could also see the Mentions tab and respond immediately if someone replied.

Sometimes you'll get a good conversation going that you end up following each other and may even become friends.

There are not too many topics you can't find somewhere in the Twitter search. It's an important tool if you want to see what conversations are trending. For example, you can usually tell which way a political election might steer by the conversation in Twitter. If you see more positive posts about one candidate over another, don't be surprised if that is the candidate that wins.

When creating a hashtag campaign for a particular product or story, the hashtag itself has to be memorable and catchy. You can see by the examples listed in this tintup.com blog.

Even if you're by yourself, Twitter has a way of making you feel like you're watching an event in a houseful of people.