Last Saturday I was attending SQL Saturday #73 here in Chicago when I noticed a whole other conference going on in Cyberspace using twitter hash tag#SQLSat73. Boy, was it a real eye opener for me and how to use Twitter!
What, me Twitter? That’s so…egocentric!
When I first heard about Twitter I immediately thought about two things: Who in their right minds would care about anything I wanted to say, (Example useless minutia: Leaving the house to pick up kids…, my response: who CARES!)
The second reason for not twittering was the impression I might give others of me, I didn’t want to come across as conceited guy who thinks every word coming out of my twit feed is worthwhile, that’s just not me. (One can argue this blog does attest to that, I differ, but you can make your case below in comments.)
#SQLSat73 hash tag
For those who don’t know, SQL Saturday is a series of sessions held simultaneously across multiple rooms. It forces you to pick a session over another, which makes it difficult to choose. The organizers and participants would tweet and finish every post with hash tag #SQLSat73, allowing anyone to follow along by searching for #SQLSat73 on Twitter or in my case my IPhone twitter app. I followed comments people made regarding other sessions going on at the same time or hearing about some great details I would not otherwise have known. It felt like eavesdropping through a thin wall where I was only picking up 1% of the conversation, which is next to nothing but still entertaining and had the potential for nuggets. I quickly joined the fray and added my voice, trying to determine if there were any other Access guys present. Nobody responded but I did meet up with 4 of them.
It was refreshing and informative, but it did have some useless minutia
You’re not immune from people who tweet just to add something to the chorus, but over all I loved being able to tap into the stream, which leads me to my next point:
Copy what works: #SQLHelp
For some time now the SQL community has been using #SQLHelp to assist each other in a tight squeeze. The call goes out as a tweet ending in #SQLHelp and any and all who can help will reply back, usually in less then one hour. I believe it’s helped them become even more tight as a group.
#AccessHelp – When you need help in a tweet spot
I’m proposing those of us in the Access community to adopt the practice and see how far it takes us. I’m not proposing answering everyone of your tweet support requests, it’s not about me but the community at large coming together to help each other out. (although I plan on answering when I can).
If you’re ready to get started check out Brent’s blog post, sign up for Twitter and let’s make it happen.
