An Bui, Spelled An With 1 N

My name is An Bui, and I have a problem. I developed an addiction to Facebook while studying sociology/anthropology at Swarthmore College. The addiction to Facebook turned into an addiction to LinkedIn, which led me to try Twitter (@anwith1n). I use Facebook to keep track of the happenings of people I met socially and LinkedIn to do the same professionally. My addiction to Twitter resulted from the realization that I could get information very quickly and promptly about the thoughts and musings of others in the social media/social networking space.

My use of Twitter differs from my use of other social networking tools. I follow the “tweets” or microblogposts of people I don’t actually know in real life. Others started following my tweets, and the online interaction enabled me to learn more about the industry and its growth. However, others on Twitter provide opportunities to take the online interaction to an in-person level, such as with tweetups, like those organized by @SeattleTweeters.

The leap from online interactions to in person interactions can occur randomly. I follow Vanessa Fox on Twitter, and weeks after I started following her tweets, she stopped by the office.* First thing out of my mouth after she was introduced to me by first name only:

“Vanessa? Vanessa Fox? I follow you on Twitter!”

I followed up with a fervent wish on my part to melt into a puddle or have the floor swallow me. Neither of those things happened, and I told her about my role as a Client Analyst for the Community Intelligence practice. She followed me on Twitter following that in person meeting. Since then, I have had the privilege of meeting others after I’ve connected with them on Twitter.

Twitter has clued me into what’s happening on Webmaster Radio, such as when Vanessa Fox and Natala Menezes (@natala) discussed Twitter. Vanessa blogged about Twitter as well on her blog, Vanessa Fox. Nude.**

Twitter has also enabled me to follow multiple people’s thoughts on an occurrence in social networking. For example, Jeremiah Owyang blogged about the shift of conversations to Twitter. Others, such as Doug Haslam and Jason Falls posted about the aftermath following Jeremiah’s original post.

Through Twitter and these posts, I’ve found more tweets to follow, more blogs to read, and more people I’d like to get to know in person, not just through their writings online.

*Note: Vanessa Fox serves as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Ignition Partners, the VC firm backing the company I work for.
**Note: Totally SFW. Hilarious to boot. Read it, if you aren’t already.