Oprah, Twitter. Twitter, Oprah

Posted by admin on April 27, 2009 under Jeffs Blog | Be the First to Comment

Unless you’ve been under a rock or on AOL you know that Oprah (and Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, P. Diddy, and Larry King, etc.…) are now on Twitter. I gotta be honest….I wasn’t thrilled at first.

You see, I’m an early Twitter adopter. It must have been mid 2008 (which was still early. Note: I verified the actual date. It was 2/17/07 via http://whendidyoujointwitter.com) when I started Tweeting. From the minute I started using the micro-blogging platform I saw its potential. A great way to inform a group of people and “overhear” others to keep up on trends, etc. I knew it would be big. And yet I would talk to people who were “tech savvy” and I would see the glazed look on their face as I told them about Twitter. It is the pain of early adoption of a technology to weather the storm of “Why do I need that?” types of questions. So, I kept on Tweeting and people began to slide over to the “Twitter” side and join in the fun. And then came Oprah.

Twitter reminds me of U2. Wait – hold on with me for a second. See, I was a U2 fan in the early 80’s. I heard the War cassette tape (what’s a cassette tape? uh, never mind) and it blew me away. I went out and bought all their tapes and scoured import record stores for any gems that drifted here from shores abroad. I would talk to people about U2 and they would give me that same glazed look: “U-what”?

After feeling weird for liking a band that no one really knew about, I changed my thinking. I made U2 my secret band, playing ‘A Celebration’ in my car and enjoying a band that hardly anyone knew about. U2 was my secret. That was a lot of fun, until Joshua Tree.

I guess all good secrets come out and when Joshua Tree hit music store shelves, the secret was out. More and more people found out about my secret, and I felt strange, but for a different reason this time.

It was the same with Twitter. I thought Twitter was “my” toy. I learned how to use it (and how not to use it) and was having a great time. Over time I noticed more people that I knew following me. That was okay because I still knew more about it than they did, and could help them discover more about it. Then, I remember the day I saw the first Tweet mentioning Oprah’s Twitter show. Later, I saw tweets mentioning Ashton and Demi Tweeting about Susan Boyle, and then it hit me – the secret is out.

Sure, all the Twitter early adopters bemoaned the end of Twitter with all these “newbies” coming aboard, but I tried to stay positive. So, the Oprah Twitter show came and went. I saw Ashton and P. Diddy on Larry King explaining what Twitter was (yes, I did cringe a few times. Was my or Chris Pirillo’s phone busy?), but then I knew I was wrong. You see, Oprah, Ashton, P. Diddy and others were actually doing me huge favor. Instead of me and the rest of the blogosphere explaining over and over to small pockets of people what Twitter is, they did it in large blasts with TV. I felt better after that. Heck, I can still tell them about Tweetlater.com, if they want to know more. It’s all good, really.

Sure, there is a part of me that wishes Twitter was still “my” fun little tech toy, but I need to share and so I will. So, welcome Oprah, Ashton, P. Diddy and Meghan McCain new followers! Twitter is great fun and you will really enjoy it. Now, what’s next for me to be an early adopter for?