The Tuesday Twitter Challenge

If you really think about it, why did you join a social network?  Chances are it’s that you had a desire to connect with friends, family, colleagues, or even meet new people that could bring value to your life.  I too joined the various social media tools for this very reason, but have noticed a shift in the way they have been used as of late that is cause for concern, specifically Twitter.  In my opinion Twitter was created as an easy way to share content, receive information, and establish a valuable online community of connections; but what good is that network if we don’t continue to maintain it, engage with it, and expand it.

It is all to easy to get caught up in the clique mentality, which I can assure you defeats the purpose of what these tools are all about.

It is this slight shift in my observations that has motivated me to send out a challenge to all of you.  A challenge to do things differently and encourage others to do likewise.  A challenge to promote inclusion and network growth so that all feel welcome and valued, in an effort to maintain a healthy online ecosystem that looks out for its new or less visible members just like it does its “gurus”, “experts”, and “ninjas”.

Tuesday Twitter Challenge

• Connect with two new people and two new businesses on twitter within your city – expand your network, let new people and ideas in. Work hard to encourage chat and discussion with others outside of your usual circles today.

• Reach out via twitter to a retailer or restaurant that you’ve had a positive experience at. Tell them what you liked! Nothing would mean more to them that to hear this feedback from you. Think about the other impacts this could have to their business. Chances are that one or many of your followers will be more inclined to visit their establishment. This is “word of mouth” advertising at its finest (the best form of advertising a business could receive) and we have the power to help!

• Introduce two contacts in your network to one another that have not met yet.  In the introduction, advise each of them why you feel they would benefit from this connection. They may have never found each other with out your efforts to bring them together.

• Let’s track this thing! It would be interesting to see what kind of impact we can have locally, and Hashtag all of the tweets that spawn from the Tuesday Twitter Challenge.  Tag each tweet with #TUTC so we can measure its reach for fun.

The challenge is simple really, it was never meant to be difficult.  Simply use Twitter the way it was indented for such as sharing content, receiving information, and developing valuable new connections. Step outside of your comfort zone, commit to trying something new, even if it’s just for today.  Take the Tuesday Twitter Challenge.