I’m an on and off fisherman, mainly fly fishing; I worked in a few fly fishing shops in my youth (gasp, I’m not THAT old, should I say “youth”?). Also, recently I installed Flick Fishing for the iPhone and have spent numerous hours on my commute trying to hook fish. Well, that go me thinking. Since part of my job as a Technology Evangelist is to grow my social network so that I can do my job even better and reach even more people, I spend a couple of hours a day (in fragments) working with Twitter. (For those of you who don’t know what Twitter is, watch this video as it explains it well.)
As I try to communicate about various technological items from software to hardware to other services, I find that sometimes people understand things better through analogies. So here is one to ponder: Using Twitter is like Fishing. Here are some ideas why I think this is:
- Size matters
- You have to choose the right “gear”
- Lures & Baits
- Catch & Release
- It’s a challenge and a sport
- It’s a social yet individual activity
- “Casting” is an art
- Landing the “big fish”
- Practice makes perfect
- Navigating the waters
- Ponds, streams, lakes, oceans
Let’s go into this a bit more, shall we say, go into deeper waters.
Size Matters – with Twitter, there are always people who are jockeying to get to the top and catch the most fish (have the largest Twitter follower count). Some of the big fish out there are Barack Obama (146,500 followers), Kevin Rose (78,000) and Leo Laporte (66,000). These “fishermen” have really forged their way to the top using a variety of techniques in order to land the most “fish.” Some have simply thrown dynamite into the water (Obama & Kevin Rose) because of their high visibility, while others like Leo Laporte have used skill and dexterity through quality posts and content to catch their followers. The more fish caught (followers you have), the better you are equipped and experienced to do some of the other items on this list.
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