Twitter Peeps are Real People!

I use Twitter all the time and I enjoy social networking on a variety of topics - computers, gadgets, music, politics, e-books. But, my first love is taxes. Yes, that's right, taxes. They don't call me "tax man" for nothing. When I first started using Twitter, the people I followed were mostly tech industry early adopters. While I enjoyed reading what these people had to say, I knew so little about their business that it was difficult for me to make any meaningful contribution in reply to their pithy tweets.

Where Twitter value became apparent is when I began to discover people on Twitter who share my passions. Every twitter friend doesn't share all my passions, but I have assembled an eclectic mix of accountants, political commentators, musicians, worship leaders, and gadget lusting technology geeks. These are folks that wouldn't exactly put themselves together in one room or talk to each other if they did, but on Twitter it's one big gathering.

There are still those luminaries that I follow but don't really converse with. I do that mainly to catch what they have to say without having to remember to visit a bunch of different blogs every day. When they post something on their blog, they usually post a link on Twitter, so it's click bam boom and I'm there.

I am pleased to see a growing number of tax and accounting related Twitter friends too. My industry isn't known for social networking of any sort. An outgoing accountant, the joke goes, looks at your shoes instead of just looking down at his own. Yet, here we are!

I am pausing to write this reflection after getting off the phone with @alillyjohnson. She's with the Ohio Society of CPA's. One of my clients in Texas does business in Ohio and I need some help. I made a post on Twitter and Amy promptly answered the call. Wow! I suddenly am connected with professionals in Ohio! My little 5-person CPA firm has national and even international reach thanks to tools like Twitter!

Sure, I may post about what I'm having for lunch. But I consider that like the test of the emergency broadcast system that used to beep at us from our TV sets during the cold war. The little posts of interesting or not-so-interesting tidbits keeps the network alive so that in the case of an actual emergency you know who to call.