By: Mallory Wegner, Gossip Genie Intern
It seems that everywhere you turn, those two words “follow us” or that little recognizable bird is somewhere in sight. Even the smallest of businesses have jumped on the Twitter train.
I was standing in line at a food cart the other night when I noticed the cart’s Twitter handle was written on the board. I grabbed my phone and followed them while I was waiting for my pulled chicken sandwich. I was glad to see that a small vending cart business was using social media to their advantage. Once I got to the front of the line I started talking to the vendor, Johnny of John’s Rib House, about it. He said he had just signed up and was unfamiliar with how to use it. I started explaining to him everything I knew about Twitter and ended up holding up the line for quite some time. I explained to him how great of a networking tool it can be and how it will benefit him if he keeps up with it. He thanked me and was very excited to start using the site to help him grow his BBQ Pork vending service.
This interaction made me realize that not only is social media creating an online interaction between people but it is also starting verbal conversation between strangers. We were able to connect via Twitter but also form a friendship in person.
The verbal interactions that are forming because of Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc are just as important as the online interactions. Some people would argue that all the online networking is causing problems in human face-to-face interaction but I would say the exact opposite. If I had not followed Johnny on Twitter that night I most likely would not have said more than hi, asked for my order, and thank you. Through our conversation he learned how to effectively use Twitter and I realized that social media is so much more than just online networking.
