Serendipity, says Dictionary.com, is “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.”
I’d wager you’ll agree no social platform facilitates social serendipity more than Twitter.
I had the chance to talk about a recent instance of Twitter serendipity Saturday, as it was our privilege at #TheLabNYC to host the first #TribeUpNYC, a mini-conference and networking event put together by Dino Dogan and Dan Cristo from Triberr. The 65 or so bloggers in attendance had a great time listening to the wisdom of inspiring speakers Geoff Livingston, Lena West, Dino himself, and comedian Brendan Fitzgibbons. The good times continued with the attendees going IRL at IML over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.
During my presentation, “How to Use Social Platforms to Find Your Audience, Build Relationships, and Create Advocacy,” I talked about an extraordinary encounter that began on Twitter and has quickly turned into a “real life” relationship. I then dove into the Social Forensics of the true beginning of that encounter, which traced back several months. It’s an interesting case study:
Last Tuesday, I was Tweeting about iSummit in Orlando. Pam Moore was in attendance and had asked me to create a custom SeeSaw board a couple of days earlier for her to use and show at the conference. I was following the iSummit action from #TheLabNYC.
@pammktgnut We will be watching #isummit all day in #thelabnyc. Let know if you need anything!
— Robert Moore (@MediaLabRat) September 18, 2012
Looking Good! RT @pammktgnut You can watch visual display of all #isummit twitter chatter via #SeeSaw: t.co/JftKlqFo Love da images!
— Robert Moore (@MediaLabRat) September 18, 2012
These Tweets were quickly retweeted by Stephanie Cabellini – @ohmyjet. I had never met or even seen Stephanie’s Tweets before in my timeline. Grateful for the RT, I reached out to Stephanie:
Happy Tuesday!
I’m going to/I can’t w8 to connect to learn more~ Very exciting platform~ The world loves visual as you know~ @medialabrat
— Stephanie~ (@OhMyJet) September 18, 2012
A relationship was born! Stephanie and I quickly bonded over our respective backgrounds (she is a fan of entrepreneurs, I am a private aviation groupie) and our mutual love for the real-time visual web. After a flurry of Tweets, I suggested going IRL with a phone call – the next step in creating mutual advocacy and understanding. We had a great phone call, and are now working on a few things together – magic!
Here’s where the Social Forensics come in. Stephanie wouldn’t have seen my original Tweet if I hadn’t created the iSummit #SeeSaw board for Pam. Though I had known Pam for a while on Twitter, it wasn’t until I met Pam and her husband, Josh, at the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Orlando earlier in the month that we were able to really bond. Pam and Josh are a truly dynamic wife/husband business powerhouse, and it was great being able to connect and talk biz with them in person. We are working on several projects together now, too.
Why was I at Smarter Commerce? I had been invited by Tami Cannizzaro and Michela Stribling from IBM to be part of their “Social Media Influencer” team and be the official Twitter curator for the event. SeeSaw was also featured during the general sessions and on flat screens throughout the event. It was awesome conference and it was thrilling to see our technology at work. I will be forever grateful to Tami and Michela for letting me be part of IBM’s amazing event.
So how did I get connected to Tami and Michela? That intro, back in July, was courtesy of Ted Rubin, CMO of Collective Bias. Ted and I have known each other for a while, and have become good friends this year. He is a big fan of SeeSaw and thought it would be a good fit for the conference, so he connected me with Michela … textbook #RonR. I will be forever grateful for the introduction, and for Ted’s advocacy for what we are doing at Internet Media Labs.
In analyzing my serendipitous meeting with Stephanie, you can really see how it began two months prior with the intro to Michela and Tami, and by extension, years earlier from when I first met Ted. Ted —> Michela & Tami —> Pam —> Stephanie.
Social Forensics!
Go through this exercise with some of your best social relationships — their origins might surprise you. By recognizing where relationships begin and how they grow way beyond their origins, you always will be aware when Lady Serendipity presents you with an opportunity.
Image by Toastwife via Flickr Creative Commons.
[...] 5, 2012 0 Comments Robert Moore, the Founder of Internet Media Labs, shares a systematic approach to growing your followers on Twitter. But it doesn’t end [...]