Twitter – Networking without the travel

Aaron Irizarry has a very interesting post over at his blog entitled “If You Build it They Will Come“, a short article considering the benefits of Twitter to graphic designers around the world. 

“What I love about this is I met both guys by interacting on twitter. Through this I realized the power of building a community of designers that we can interact with for feedback on designs, help with a snipet of code or when we are stuck on a design. There are a lot of awesome people that I have met through twitter, and I am getting some awesome opportunity to colaborate, and have also learned quite a bit in the last few months simply by interacting.” 

I have to agree with this, and whilst I have a more development, and business focus than graphic design I find I have an increasing number of them on my list. It’s interesting to watch how quickly Twitter has grown into a network for quickly finding answers to common problems, seeking assistance or feedback or even recruiting and recommending people for contracting gigs. 

Coupled with Tweetdeck and it’s interface to search.twitter.com it is quick to setup custom searches for topics that interest you, find new and interesting people within your industry to connect with and to improve your networking skills. 

Twitter of course isn’t without it’s downsides, and whilst it used to be downtime, it is now more than ever working out how to manage the information overflow you experience with hundreds of friends and followers. As your network grows, so do the number of tweets with the potential to distract you from work. As with any distractions, moderation is key, whether you need to shut down your app or just minimize it while concentrating it’s important to make sure your new friends don’t impact negatively on your work. 

I certainly look forward to meeting with a number of new contacts from twitter in person at upcoming conferences.