I am a Montreal-based marketer who loves social media and technology. With 18 years marketing experience behind me, I understand that social media is only one driver in my marketing toolbox. 
Crowdsourcing is one of the best uses of Twitter. Sure, it’s easy enough to poll people with questions or to ask for information, directions and recommendatons, but it’s another thing entirely when you’re in a pickle and need someone local to physically come to your aid.
Last night at about 10:30 pm, as I watched the Tweets fly by, I caught this from Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki), famed Apple evangelist, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, speaker and author:
A few of us re-tweeted his request, not that he’d need much help with 20,500+ followers, but you never know if people may have missed it the first time around.
Sure enough, within 8 minutes, the offer of help came in from Jerry Jones (@jetskier79):
Confirmations were made and, voila! Within an hour Guy had a magsafe power supply for a Macbook in hand. And what did Jerry get besides some good karma, Guy’s thanks and a few new followers? His good deed was rewarded with a signed first copy of Reality Check, Guy’s new book, set for release on October 30th.
As for Guy’s test, he wrote about his best Twitter story ever and documented the exchange with a smile and a photo.
How has Twitter come to your rescue? Let me know.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Zena Weist // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Missed Guy’s twitter story last night as I unplugged for the evening. Thanks for sharing, Adele! My Twitter share is from over a year ago: My Mom | My Twitter Hook
2 Laura P Thomas // Sep 30, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Adele,
I had a similar experience back in January while stuck in an airport.
A twitter bud saw my tweets of frustration about an inability to get to my final location in time to set up for an event. He was already there and volunteered to assist in my absence!
Great stuff that I blogged about in more detail here: http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/01/15/41273.aspx
~LPT
3 Adele McAlear // Oct 1, 2008 at 4:44 am
Zena - thank you for sharing your amazing Twitter story. Using Twitter to keep your family in the loop about your mom’s surgery was an excellent idea. And how wonderful that new followers could help you with medical information. I’m curious if any of your family members stuck with Twitter after seeing its value.
Laura - your story shows how people come to your aid under the most unlikely circumstances to help you get the job done. Thanks for sharing it here.
4 Can A Startup Outside the Valley Make It? Guy Kawasaki Isn’t Too Sure | KillerBlog // Oct 7, 2008 at 12:34 pm
[...] Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter Test [...]
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