A Twitter experiment

On January 4th, while tweeting on Twitter, I saw an invitation from @scottyhendo to take part in an experiment. Always willing to try something new, I was one of the first to reply that “I’m game.”

Then he wrote back: "Experiment: Use search.twitter.com to search random word (i.e. chocolate). Follow 3 people who come up. And follow 1st 3 they've @ replied. 2:38 PM Jan 4th from TweetDeck”

The random word I chose was “believe”, mainly because recently social media expert @ChrisBrogan suggested to choose 3 words that will help us focus on our goals for 2009. Believe is one of my 3.

I wondered who I’d find that are also talking about believing in themselves. I thought I might find others also on a quest for self-improvement, learning to believe in themselves. I thought this would be a great way to add value to others as I shared links and motivational thoughts, as well as be the recipient of the same from them.

Here are the 12 people on Twitter who randomly entered my world for a week, based on the word “believe” being in their most recent post. I didn’t tell them that I was part of an experiment. My choice was to just interject in a conversation and then see how open they were to include me.

The Random Three
The following three are the first that came up in my search:

@Saundersagibbes – He’s either an architect or student of architecture from Greenville who is enrolled at UNCC for his final semester - ever.

@Danta – No bio listed. I think he’s in an IT field, based on his tweets.

@Mackcat – From NYC, his bio states: “Getting your next girlfriend…no problem!”

The @Reply Nine
These nine were the most recent three @replies from each of the random three above:

@mom3reds – Busy mom of 3 from South Cackalcky.

@shaneduffey – From the SC.

@ibzy – No idea.

@10vorne – From Germany; no idea about his profession but talks a lot about TV and video games.

@torben_podcast – No info. Blocked for questionable behavior.

@pfitz - From Berlin. I assume he is in the IT field.

@marcwilson77 – Involved with Web Prosperity; from the Gulf Coast.

@geraldenglish – No info.

@jmaster – No info.

Three Observations
1. Random is not always “not related”. I know that’s a double negative, but I don’t know how else to say it. I’m in Indianapolis, as is @scottyhendo and another participant, @GeoffWood. 3 out of 4 from the same city. Interesting.

2. There are a lot of people on Twitter who don’t list a bio, where they live, or anything else about themselves. That puzzles me, since this is a social networking site.

3. There is a huge array of people, nationalities, interests and ages on Twitter. And you can learn a whole heck of a lot about them just by reading their tweets and following their links. Sometimes what you learn is that they don’t share anything.

Unfortunately, my random follows didn’t provide me with conversationalists or those with any desire to connect. I’m quite a chatty person, but found that random isn’t always the best way to find the connections. I did not try to stalk anyone. If my initial tweet was not answered, I did not contact them again. After all, you can’t have a 1-way conversation. (I wonder if I would have had better results if they knew they were part of an experiment.)

Disclaimer: I was losing followers and updates during this time. Possibly some tweets were deleted. That said …

Game over. Who who made the team, and who gets cut? They all get cut. General reasons are 1) more outgoing than incoming posts, 2) they seem more focused on individual friends than trying to connect with people outside their immediate circle, 3) most of their worlds are WAY different than mine, and 4) no one gave me a reason to want to try to connect.

Specifics:
@Saundersagibbes – replied to my question of what is YouVersion; didn’t reply to my response back. Checked out his blog with the most recent post being in September. Must be really busy.

@Danta – Most of his tweets are - I think - tech words I don’t understand. Scary photo.

@Mackcat – Five followers; following no one. His only posts are 1) how to quit smoking and 2) how to get rid of acne. I don’t have a problem with either of these issues.

@mom3reds – No photo. Serves the Lord and others. If anyone, this would be one person I’d continue to follow. But…no.

@shaneduffey – Bio: found. I'm not sure what he means by 'found'. His tweets indicate he likes pigs and BBQ. Though I like BBQ, this just isn’t enough to begin a friendship.

@ibzy – Few tweets. Not my preferred use of the English language. ‘Nuff said.

@10vorne – No bio. Plays a lot of video games.

@torben_podcast – Blocked for suspicious behavior; no longer exists in the Twitter world.

@pfitz – Bio: Mac and Linux Geek with love for music and Jabber. Was in Stockholm on vacation; mostly outgoing tweets. Maybe no response because he was traveling?

@marcwilson77 – Asked a question about Web Prosperity; no response.

@geraldenglish – No bio, no location, no updates, no nothin’.

@jmaster – No bio; no photo. Wants to get her/his “x” back, save marriage. I've been married 37 years. Guess I have that issue covered.

So, my experience was less than exciting. I’m anxious to hear from the other 2 who also participated. I am guessing, by the number of great people I’ve met on Twitter, that they had a much more positive experience than I did. But I think I’ll continue to strategically search for the people I will follow. A lot of time was devoted for such a non-desirable outcome.

Thanks @scottyhendo for this opportunity. Though the results weren’t what I hoped for, I did learn a lot. And that in itself was worth the time.