Awesome. Life-changing. Fantastic. Amazing. Incredible.
These are just some of the words I would use to describe my Twitter experience of 2010. It has been fun making sure that my feed is a force of positivity as well a great resource to those in search of information. I take it all very seriously.
I tell everyone: I'm from the school of Adventurer and Twitter Powerhouse J.D. Andrews, who always says, "Use twitter mostly for the 'WE', and not the 'ME'". And how do you do this, you ask? It's simple: by engaging and connecting with your followers; retweeting and recommending new people whenever you can; saying "Thank You" and displaying a daily dose of gratitude; and creating more social media success stories and being happy for those who rise (and rock!) in Twitter's 140 character format.
There are lots of numbers in social media: followers, listings, app "scores", etc. But to me, there is one number that shines above all else: the number of people whose lives are impacted by what you do. People are always watching and taking notes. So why wouldn't you want to put your "best tweet forward"?
If 2010 was the "year of discussing Influence," I believe 2011 will be the "year of making an Impact" -- as in showing tweeters practical ways to use their online influence to make an impact around the world. The way entrepreneur Lotay Yang has done with The Black Card Circle Foundation and military hero Paul Rieckhoff with his Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. I can be much better in this area myself, and I intend to be.
So embrace those people who support and contribute to the very best of what Twitter and social media has to offer. Not the takers, but the givers. You know who they are. And deep down inside, you know who, and what, you want to be. Make it happen. Happy New Year!