When I decided to sign up for Twitter just a few short months ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The purpose was to broaden my reach, I suppose. But in hindsight, I realize I have learned so much more on Twitter than I have learned anywhere else in such a short amount of time. You may wonder…what could Twitter possibly teach me? I pondered this question for some time before deciding to write this post.
First and foremost, Twitter has introduced me to people I may never have had an opportunity to meet. Through this community, I have seen first hand that people from different cultures, countries, and backgrounds around the world really have similar interests, experiences, joys, losses, failures, and triumphs…despite what some may say. And within that Twitter community, or Twitterverse as I affectionally call it, I have found some truly inspiring people: readers supporting authors and bloggers, friends supporting friends, businesses supporting businesses, bloggers supporting authors and readers, and authors supporting other authors, bloggers, and readers.
Indeed, I do not believe I have ever met a more committed and supportive group of people than those I have met on Twitter. Overly optimistic you may ask…or perhaps just delusional…The skeptics may point to high profile statistics and question whether these people are really supportive. They may say those people with high statistics are simply in it for vanity reasons or for what it can do for them. Well, perhaps that is true for some, but most of the people I have ‘met’ on Twitter follow other people as a show of support, look at the stats…
Do you think, at this point, John Locke really needs to follow anyone else on Twitter? I think 25K-26K followers/followees are pretty good stats. But I followed him just the other day when I decided to pull my head out of the ice ages…and guess what? He followed back. Melissa Foster is another example. Truly inspirational and supportive tweets at 9K-10K followers/followees, and she was one of the first people to ever follow me. At the time I only had maybe 30-40 followers. (Notice there is no ‘K’ at the end.) But, as accomplished authors, each of these individuals went out of their way to welcome me, support me, and treat me as an equal, as have all of the countless other authors who have supported me and my fellow authors…Patti Roberts, Julie Belfield, Gwenn Wright, and James Wilcox, to name just a few. (No offense intended for not being able to include all of my friends here…equate it to the 140 character restraint!)
As authors supporting authors, we post links to other authors’ books, their guest blog posts, and interviews. We cheer each other on for book releases, chart rankings, and book signings. We come together to brainstorm and create new promotional opportunities such as group giveaways, blog tours, and $.99 book events. We create hash tags that help the Twitterverse locate each other’s tweets. We sympathize when something doesn’t go as planned and encourage a positive perspective. We introduce our friends to each other. We answer questions with which other authors may be struggling.
Twitter has re-invented the concept of support for one another. And from Twitter, I have learned that above all else, we are not only authors supporting authors…we are friends supporting each other’s goals and aspirations…turning dreams into realities.