My @LRTweetup Story

Little Rock Tweetup is about to turn 1 year old. As part of the festivities around our birthday we are asking members to share their story about tweetup and what it has meant to them. If you have a story to share, please check out this post and let us hear your story. Here is mine.

I joined Twitter on March 27^th, 2008. I had just recently left my position at Aristotle and a good friend from there @varvil suggested I create an account so we can keep up. I in turn used it to follow a handful of friends from Aristotle @robbymatthews, @jbarket, @johnhornor, @djbalance and @robertblake.

Twitter was still a very evolving platform at that point. While I am sure there were some software available, I was not aware of it and did not use it. A retweet was literally copying someone’s tweet and writing in the letters “RT” and their user name. Because of the infancy of the platform I really never became too involved with it early on.

So I sat for around a year following roughly 15 people. I would post occasionally, and read quite a bit more. I started following @ArkBusiness for some reason during that time and around March of 2009 began following @LT as a result of following @ArkBusiness. I had started working for Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions in April of 2009 and I started hearing @LT talk about getting together with some other twitter users at Sticky’s. I asked @AlexTCone who was working with me at the time if he wanted to go, he declined, and I asked several other people and no one really wanted to go. Not wanting to look like a complete loser by just showing up without knowing anyone I sat it out. I did however follow live tweeting with a great deal of interest. I decided no matter what if another one of these meetups happen I was going to go.

Fast forward a year later, my 17 people I am following has turned into 370, and this little meetup that I was shy about has become one of the most important parts of my life.

I have made more friends and connections than I can ever possibly name in a blog post. I could go on until our next anniversary telling stories. Stories like what has come out of meeting @pstrack, how I’ve fell in love with @therep by spending time with @angelmg, how people like @kerrijack have helped us through tough times, how @jamiewalden still owes me a shot, the books we were able to contribute to twestival,  and what @tsudo has taught me about being passionate for what you believe in.

The reality is though, is that these stories are still being written. The book is not closed, not by a long shot. As this community grows and matures there will be more stories. Just like any relationship, not all of those stories will be good ones, and we will likely have hard times. I think I speak for others though that this is more than just a monthly gathering. It has become a very large part of my life. As I look at the future I see the stories being richer and the connections going deeper.

So here is to another year of @LRTweetup, and to the story still being written.