Ultimate Tweet-Up in 2010

Posted by Gabe on December 31, 2009 under Social Media, Twitter | 8 Comments to Read

I just recently had my one-year anniversary on Twitter.  At the risk of copying my friend @DannyBrown who has a series of “Ten in 2010″ posts, one of which I made the list (thanks to my extensive lobbying and a rather substantial sum of money) I felt the urge to come up with a list of ten people I would like to meet at a “tweet-up” in 2010.  Most of these people have supported us from the beginning and others I would just like to get to know.  Without further ado, here is my list in no particular order of relevance.

1) @OKE_News Menachem works tirelessly for the benefit of underprivileged children.  If you haven’t met him check out his profile and his web site.  He’s the only guy I know who tweets harder than I do.

2) @ThirstAidLive Denise and her whole family are always planning fund raisers. Big fund raisers — for other people.  This year she was hit by that huge flood in Atlanta and lost her house.  Sometimes life can be very unfair.  She is now organizing a flood relief concert for her community that was so devastated.  I hope we can pick up again where we left off real soon as we had plans to work together.

3) @JohnHaydon @JoeWaters – This is a “two-fer” since where you find one the other one is standing right beside him.  John is a model of how to be in social media, always helping and supporting other people and has been a great champion for Kids Are Heroes.  Joe is his sidekick and quite frankly I don’t remember what he does. But I heard he is fun to have around at parties. ;)

4) @DannyBrown started the #12for12k effort. If you are not familiar with it check out his web site and learn about it.  This movement is a great demonstration of the power of social media if you know how to interact with it properly.  In addition to that it is helping people all over the world.

5) @PoulinGail is a kindergarten teacher from Southampton Massachusetts who reads a different story from the Kids Are Heroes web site to her class each and every day.  How I know this is because they post shout-outs to one of the heroes after they have read the story.  Each time I see this I am extremely encouraged as this is exactly what the web site is designed for.  She even got the class together and collected socks for the homeless emulating one of our heroes.  I just wish we had a thousand other teachers just like her.

6) @RichardBranson doesn’t really tweet to me but if you know anything about how Kids Are Heroes got started you’d know that he was a major influence.  Coincidentally in March of 2009 we entered a contest sponsored by Sir Richard and thanks to the Kids Are Heroes fans we won!  In the month of June our video pitch was played on Virgin Atlantic planes for the entire month. I am one who is never star-struck, but this is one “celebrity” I would surely like to meet.

7) @AARprotectkids is run by Zephora Haddon.  She has been watching us from the start and has generously included us in her fund raising activities.  Her Amber Alert registry business is growing impressively which only helps us because as more people sign on and select Kids Are Heroes as a charity the more support we get.

8) @hiannie is my friend from Singapore. Among other things she teaches Mandarin Chinese online.  She is also just a really good person who I could learn so much from besides a different language.

9) @TheElders I have never met any of these people but would humbled to meet just one.  This was the group started by Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel (who by the way is not on Twitter otherwise I would add him to this list).  This group of “elders” with the likes of Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela go out to troubled areas on our planet and try to help resolve difficult issues in a peaceful manner thus saving thousands of lives.  I would just love to be a fly on the wall during one of their strategy meetings.

10) Kids Are Heroes List - I know I am cheating but I would really love to meet all the kids on the Kids Are Heroes web site (now approaching 100) and their parents as well. (I guess I need a bigger hall to rent for this tweet-up.) Our lives have been so enriched since we started this venture and it is all because of these children.  My sister came down for the second annual Kids Are Heroes Day in October and when the “after-party” was over she told me specifically, “I met some very special people today.”  This sums it up very nicely and I couldn’t agree more.

I know I said “top ten” but they are my rules and sometimes I like to break them.

11) @SueScheff is the author of the “Google Bomb!” book which is an eye-opener when it comes to what can happen to one’s reputation if someone smears it online.  She is also a champion of teens and helps parents deal with sensitive subject matters regarding teens.  She is also a great Kids Are Heroes supporter and has been for a long time.

12) My Colorado Peeps: @DaveWebb @EricRodwell and @MiloGirly I lived in Boulder Colorado for three months a little over ten years ago.  I had just gotten a job and three days later I was told I was shipping out.  Certainly there are worse places to be so I lucked out in that department.  I have traveled all over the US and Canada and if I had to live anywhere other than Frederick, MD it would be in Colorado.  I loved the climate, the scenery and mostly the people.  Dave, Eric and Kyra are all great examples of those people.

So this is my ultimate tweet-up.  For those of you who feel left out, you can come too. I’m sure I missed some real gems, so you can let me have it in the comments section and I will somehow try and make amends.