A minor Twitter miracle
I'm serving as Technical Editor on my 8th For Dummies series book, Google Adsense For Dummies. Friday, the project editor emailed me to say that the author, Jerri Ledford, had run into a hurdle on one of the chapters dealing with , which is currently a project in closed beta. The editor indicated Jerri needed access to it, was having trouble gaining such and asked if I could help.
So, I went to Twitter and asked...
Shortly after, I received this reply...
I followed Kevin's advice and contacted Rick, the gentleman he referenced. Within 20 minutes, Rick had contacted the manager of the Adsense for feeds project and put me in touch with him. And he told me to put him in touch with the author. Badda-bing! Problem solved.
Think about this for a minute. Using this quirky little app, I went from having no contact whatsoever to being in contact with the very person who could help Jerri, all within less than a couple of hours. In my book, that's amazing!
Not only did I use Twitter, I also put out a call via , receiving a number of positive responses through that as well, including one from a friend who knew some people at Google Adsense.
So, what are we to make of this? Don't tell me this social networking stuff doesn't work. It does! I can't think of any other way I could have found the resources needed in such a short time frame, if at all.
I was told by one respondent to have the project editor contact Google's public relations department. I'm sure taking that route would have resulted in the author gaining access as well, but how long would that have taken? Hours possibly... days probably.
What has been your experience using social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn? Has it resulted in positive benefits for you as well?
It's amazing the efficiency that these little tools create for us isn't it?
I think many of us still have quite a bit to learn from Twitter and other social media tools, but the sooner the better. They're certainly efficient.
Posted by: | April 07, 2008 at 07:32 AM
and they say Twitter is a waste of time... and social networking is just throwing dwarfs at one another.
Congratulations...
"What has been your experience using social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn? Has it resulted in positive benefits for you as well?"
I met the folks at our Columbus "Social Media Cafe" through Twitter... met interesting local bloggers and made contacts through the SMC... business from Twitter or Linkedin... nothing I can measure yet.
I need to read Google Adsense for Dummies.. actually I need the WP for Dummies. You contributed on that didn't you? I need that one NOW.
Posted by: Maureen M. | April 07, 2008 at 08:07 AM
@Ricard @Maureen - It's still sort of a "to each his own" in terms of the personal and business benefits of social media. Still, no one can decry the fact there are benefits. Part of my mandate is to codify what they are.
Posted by: Paul Chaney | April 07, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Yea - I remember being one of THOSE guys who said "Twitter is neat, but not really going to be useful for anything!"
Sometimes I really need to muzzle my thoughts! :)
Posted by: Tom Altman | April 08, 2008 at 09:52 AM