Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Tweeple: 12 People I'm looking forward to Interacting with in 2009

Twitter Pack by Carrot Creative
You know the year can't end with last minute meme of some sort. Well, this isn't an official twitter meme but feel free to pass it on. (Folks on this list can also go ahead and pass it on!) I "met" and started interacting with the following people on Twitter through either their blogs or some other people's tweets. I usually pay attention to their tweets because I have a great laugh, get ideas or learn something new. And believe me, getting the list down to just 12 tweeple is not that easy! There were other folks that I want to include but that'll be just too many people. I'll highlight them in the New Year so stay tuned!

1. Michael Leis @mleis
This is the man I blame for my Twitter addiction. ^_^ Before he came into my life it was quiet, though I had set up my Twitter account before I never really saw the use until I was woken by his thought provoking post on marketing. I first read one of Michael's post on iMedia Connection about the future of social media. I saw that I can have a conversation with him on Twitter so we hit it off. Jokes aside, I wouldn't have met the rest of the wonderful folks if it wasn't for him.

2. Leah Dossey @CreativeWisdom
I got to Leah's profile through @Jimconnolly when she answered a post on creating Twitter backgrounds. She's written an excellent tutorial on making your own Twitter backgrounds. We DM-ed (Direct Message) back and forth and hit it off immediately. She's a great designer and has a really fast turn around time according to folks who've worked with her. So if you need a designer stat, she's the person you go to.

3. Ande @dailytwitter
First you have to check out Daily Twitter the site. It's going to be expanding in 2009 as a news site. But guess where the news is coming from? Yup, the microblogging world! Besides, Ande is a great guy to follow, he's a great dude to brain storm with. I think he started following me when I replied back to someone, I forget, but hey replies will get you followers too so don't be so self absorbent!

4. Michael Gass @michaelgass
Michael Gass is my Jedi in advertising. If you're into advertising he's THE person to follow. He'll push your thoughts beyond the Web 2.0 world with his tweets. He asks the right questions and he points to the right answers. Advertising and marketing has a line that gets blurred often. An ad copy is just as important as a marketing copy. I never had "formal" training in either subjects so I need to read and learn stuff. Sure enough, you'll learn everything you need about the advertising world and where it's headed from just following Michael Gass's tweets.

5. Valerie Stevens @ValerieStevens
Valerie Stevens is a bit of a mystery woman, which intrigues me a lot. She's a hard core social media maven. She's already using Facebook and Twitter in a very synergistic way. In just a short span of time she has a good amount of people following her on Twitter as well as joining her group on Facebook. She's going to be traveling and launching a lot of blog properties in 2009 so I'm really interested in watching what she does. Plus she's a fun person to interact with.

6. Cheryl Phillips @TheDailyBlonde
Cheryl is a woman after my own heart. She started Twitters Anonymous. Of course, I'm on it! You can also join the Twitters Anonymous Facebook group. Cheryl's a great mom, blogger, twitterati, and she spreads cheer on every social network she's on. Read more about The Daily Blonde here.

7. Anand Nataraj @anandnataraj
Anand is an Indian serial entrepreneur. He's one of the first Indians that I started following on Twitter. I needed some people to talk about issues that happen in the land that I live in. Anand blogs, tweets, and manages his new company Cogzidel Consultancy Services from one of the tech capitals of India, Chennai. If you're looking to expand your company's operations in India, he's the man you need to talk to.

8. Angsuman Chakraborty @angsuman
A fellow Calcuttan, Angsuman is also another entrepreneur and a software architect. I found him (and boy was I glad!) on Twitter when I was looking for people who tweet in Kolkata (same city, new name). An Infosys alumnus, he's the founder and CEO of Taragana. His company develops software for Fortune 500 companies as well as start ups. Lately we've been really busy and missing each other because my cell phone is out of order but we keep in touch on twitter. ^_^ He's been organizing Tweetups for folks here, so I am totally looking forward to really meeting this guy. Expanding and networking the tech scene here in Kolkata is one of my goals in 2009.

9. May Velous @mayvelous
May is a young Burmese woman programmer. (Neat eh?) We found each other via Twitter when I was looking for fellow Burmese who tweet. If change were to happen in Myanmar, I believe that it will come from the young educated tech savvy people. At least we will be creating ripples for the next generation. There's a lot of change agents out there and she's one of them. She doesn't tweet much but her blog is amazing. She introduced Global Voices to me and they've accepted me as a volunteer writer. (I'm thrilled!) I'll be highlighting more on the young Burmese geeks, tech-heads, and agents of change in 2009. Besides, Burmese geek girls are really cute.

10. Julie Roads @writingroads
A fellow writer, Julie Roads brings fun and intrigue into writing. Being a writer is a lonely job and it pays to have friends like her. She's a freelancer based in Martha's Vineyard. (I wonder where she goes for vacations.) She recently Twitterfied her blog. She always brings interesting ideas into social media through writing. If you're a writer, you definitely should be reading her blog.

11. Joshua Denney @joshuadenny
Joshua is a designer who is also a web strategist. I believe that design and content is an integral part of any web strategy, and Joshua pulls this off really well. Plus he's a no nonsense guy, always there to try out new stuff and point to the coolest things around the web like Bringing Karma Back using the Internet. He's a catalyst for change and he puts himself out there. It's been fun following him on twitter.

12. David Cushman @davidcushman
I got to David via @mleis. I think I've seen his blog before but never really interacted until I started following him on Twitter. He writes about social media strategy and content, how it all ties together and how you should harness the power of your network. If you're a writer or an Internet marketer you should totally follow this guy. He brings news from the "edge".

Who are the twelve people you're looking forward to watching on Twitter or Blogs in 2009? Who provokes your thoughts and influences you? Write a comment or go blog about it. If you like lists like this check out Chris Brogan's pick on 8 Bloggers to watch in 2009.

Have a fabulous New Year!

Photo by: carrotcreative

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Posted by Yu Yu at 12:56 PM  

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5 comments:

Julie Roads said...

Wow! Thank you so much for mentioning me! This is a great list...I just followed everyone on it (that I was already following!)

December 24, 2008 at 4:11 PM  
Ande Gregson said...

thanks for the mention, agree with Julie Roads, you have made up a great list of good people to follow - i shall be doing the same :)

Love the blog, and think the film/cooking combo is a great idea - would love to collaborate next year - Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and have a fab New Year!

dt

December 24, 2008 at 5:42 PM  
Anonymous said...

This is a great blog with awesome information and people I have already started to follow. And it has pointed out a grave error in my strategy. Because my website is targeted to women, I have focused on following women. You have provided some great resources here who (surprising! DAH) are not all women.

December 25, 2008 at 4:55 PM  
Joshua said...

Looking forward to you as well :)

December 26, 2008 at 5:05 AM  
zo said...

Hey great stuff going on here. Any way I hope you have had a look at my email :)

December 29, 2008 at 7:32 PM  

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