Being a Twitter user (@dspark) for some time now, I like many others have become evangelical about the micro-blogging tool.
I believe what makes Twitter so valuable are these moments of connectivity that simply aren’t possible through any other communications tool. I’ve had these “Twitter moments” and I set out to discover “Twitter moments” from others as well. What all the following stories have in common is a Twitter user had a question or a concern, and someone (or many people) responded. Twitter was the connective tissue that made that moment happen in a time of need.
I’ll begin with a Twitter moment of my own that inspired me to write this article. Read on for fifteen more and make sure you make it to the end. The last one is my favorite.
Save $150 on a computer
While shopping for an HP computer online, I, David Spark found a coupon code that saved me $200. So happy about my last minute savings, I tweeted it. A follower (@drapps) tweeted back offering up a better coupon code that would have saved me $350. I cancelled my original order and ordered the computer again for the additional $150 in savings.
Get a journalist to write about your business when he wants to hear your pitch
Rafe Needleman (@rafe) of CNET tweeted that he would be attending the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC and that he’d be interested in meeting startups. Sachin Agarwal (@sachinag) of Dawdle.com (@dawdledotcom) was listening and approached Needleman based on that tweet. Agarwal got a one hour sit down, and Needleman wrote a great overview of his business.
Get DirecTV to install your satellite in three days instead of three weeks
Three weeks was the earliest Jessica Gottlieb (@JessicaGottlieb) could hope to get her new HD DirecTV dish installed. Her husband was not happy about missing that much of the football season. Hoping for a sooner install time, Jessica called back…four times. No dice. Three weeks was the earliest they could do. Annoyed, Jessica broadcasted her frustration on Twitter and DirecTV (@DirecTV) caught it and responded. Within three days Jessica had a senior supervisor installer in her home installing the dish. While DirecTV didn’t respond to her private call, they did respond to her public tweet.
Pull a PR stunt on a journalist
Marketing rep Ashley Skiles (@ashleyskiles) has been following a medical reporter at the Atlanta Business Chronicle for one of her clients, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a fund dedicated to fighting breast cancer. One night the reporter tweeted there was a run on milkshakes at Chick-fil-a, a popular restaurant chain in the southern U.S. Next morning, Ashley ran to Chick-fil-a, picked up a milkshake for the reporter and left it at his office along with a press release from her client. She didn’t get any press (until now), but she did get the attention of the journalist.
Track a hurricane from the eye of the storm without any power
The night of the Hurricane Ike, Roshelle Gaskins (@Galvestonguru) of Galveston, Texas lost power, cutting her off from both TV and Internet news. That didn’t matter since most of the media was also forced to stay inside due to the 12 foot storm surge. Luckily Roshelle had her BlackBerry, and those Twitterers stuck in the eye of the storm (@Nickcognito, @Leighjones, and @KXAN_News) kept her up to date on the storm’s progress.
Help your family stuck in a tornado 1400 miles away
On May 25th, Britt Reints (@missbritt), a resident of Florida, got a frantic call from a friend in her hometown of Parkersburg, Iowa: “A tornado just hit Parkersburg. Houses are gone. Find your family.” Frantically, she tried to call her parents via landline and cell, but couldn’t get through. The Weather Channel had nothing. Local news sites had yet to be updated. Britt had no idea what was going on, nor did she know where her family was.
Using a Twitter locator site (she doesn’t remember which) Britt searched for users within a certain mile radius of Parkersburg and started following them. Their Tweets informed Britt as to what had happened and where the tornado went. Luckily it bypassed her parents and grandparents. When she finally spoke to her family on the phone they were still in the dark as they had no TV, radio, or Internet access. Britt and her husband made the 24 hour drive to Parkersburg. While on the road she stayed connected to Twitter, and relayed the Tweeted FEMA and Red Cross information to her family via phone.
Raise funds for a trip
Podcaster Tabitha Grace Smith (@tabz) wanted one of her UK-based writers of her radio drama to come to the U.S. to attend the science fiction and fantasy conference, DragonCon. Unfortunately, her UK-based writer had no money to come. Tabitha reached out to her listeners via Twitter and asked if they’d be willing to take up a collection. Quickly, six listeners coughed up a total of $600 using ChipIn and brought Tabitha’s writer to the States and the conference.
Convert subscribers through Twitter, not email newsletters
Paulette Ensign (@pauletteensign) had two slots left to fill for Circle of Experts, a booklet providing tips to women moving on after a divorce. Looking to quickly fill those last two slots, she sent out a tweet. Within minutes an expert responded, signed up, and provided his contribution to the booklet. That same expert is also a subscriber to her monthly ezine which always has information about the Circle of Experts service. While the expert never responded to her newsletter, he did see Paulette’s tweet and responded to that.
Monitor and stop robo calls quickly during the election season
Shaun Dakin (@EndTheRoboCalls) runs the National Political Do Not Contact Registry. While political robo calls to phone numbers on the Federal Do Not Call list are okay, robo calls to phone numbers on California’s Do Not Call List of any sort, even political, are illegal. When Shaun’s organization gets a complaint about a robo call, he quickly scans Twitter to see if anyone else has complained about the same call. If so, he follows up via blog, email, and phone for more details and then contacts the offending campaign directly and asks them to stop.
Shaun used Twitter this week to quickly track down and stop Zane Starkewolf, a Green Republican candidate for CA-1, for his odd and silly pornographic calls slamming his competitor, Mike Thompson. Because of Shaun’s quick action, the story was picked up by multiple news sources (e.g. Wired, Huffington Post, MSNBC, and CBS).
Save 20% on your favorite beauty products
Latoicha Givens (@luxetips) mentioned on Twitter how much she loves Ulta Beauty products. Immediately after her tweet she received an email from Ulta’s assistant merchandising manager thanking her for her good words and gave Latoicha and many of her friends 20 percent off discount coupons.
Uncover the truth about a rumor
John Hawbaker (@jehawbaker) runs Chattarati (@chattarati), a Chattanooga-centric local news blog. After hurricane Ike, rumors started spreading that gas was going to jump up to $5 per gallon the next day. In hours, people reacted with fear and gas stations were clogged with long lines. John reached out to his Twitter community to uncover the origin of the rumor, and discovered it came from two misinformed local radio stations. Quickly he posted the facts on his blog and stopped the panic.
Find cowboy boots in Canada
For business and formal wear, cowboy boots are Dan York’s (@danyork) trademark. Unfortunately he left them at home on a business trip up to Ottawa, Canada. He could have called around to find a place, but the battery on his BlackBerry was almost drained. With what battery power he had left, he sent a tweet asking where in Ottawa he could go for cowboy boots. Dan turned off his phone and then checked back in 15 minute intervals. He got responses and advice from followers in Germany, New Jersey, Vermont, and Alberta, Canada. Collectively, they steered him to a pair of boots from Boulet that he still has today and loves.
911 is a joke. Twitter isn’t
Andrew Warner (@andrewwarner) was stuck late at night with his bicycle on the side of the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) in Los Angeles. Andrew called a cab and 911 and neither would pick him up. Alone, he Twittered his dilemma and a Twitter friend (@KenFeldman) offered to pick him up. Others not in the neighborhood kept him company by Tweeting. While he wanted to take Ken up on his offer, Andrew’s girlfriend eventually was able to pick him up.
Get free tickets to Cirque du Soleil
While at Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas, blogger Dave Taylor (@DaveTaylor) twittered that he was interested in going to a Cirque du Soleil show. In minutes a private tweet from Cirque marketing came in asking him which show he wanted to attend. “The Beatles: LOVE, Saturday evening” was his response. The marketing agent comp’ed him two VIP tickets to the show. When he returned home, he wrote a review of the show on his blog, and the marketing rep shared the story with the entire Cirque team.
Conduct focus group research with instant results and at no cost
With close to 3,000 followers, Jason Falls (@JasonFalls) uses his base as a personalized focus group. He works as a social media director for Doe-Anderson, a branding agency in Louisville, KY. Jason is always testing the waters for new opportunities. To see how people felt about advertising on Twitter, Jason announced that he was going to sell his 2,000th tweet for $5. Responsive to the opportunity, his followers debated the issue, Jason collected his research, and Michael Schnuerle (@metromapper) purchased Jason’s 2,000th tweet.
Suss out someone’s dating potential
Andrea (real name and Twitter ID withheld) went out on a first date with a guy. The date went well, and they talked about going out again. During the evening Andrea’s date mentioned he was on Twitter, as is Andrea. The next day Andrea looked the guy up on Twitter to send him a message that she had fun last night. But before she did, she discovered her date was Twittering nasty things about her every time she went to the bar or the bathroom. Ouch. And yes, Andrea didn’t go out with him again.
Have a Twitter moment of your own? Let us know. And for those of you who have friends you’ve been trying to get on Twitter, and they still don’t get it, please just send them this post.
David Spark (@dspark) is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of Spark Media Solutions, a storytelling production company. Read more of Spark at his blog Spark Minute or listen and subscribe to his “Be the Voice” blog and podcast.
Imagery provided by iStockPhoto/adamKaz
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