Twitter is the Chuck Norris of ice breakers

I’m no good with a torque wrench but it’s a powerful tool in the right hands. And when it comes to networking, twitter (used well) would give even Chuck Norris a run for his money.

This struck me like a direct message from the great Chuck himself when I was at BarCamp Charlotte Saturday. I met so many interesting people that I can barely remember them all. I’ve never had so many people come up and introduce themselves to me at an event before. Many conversations began with “Hi Lisa, I follow you on twitter.”

Instant ice breaker. And the “ice” was wafer-thin to begin with. After all, we’d already met – via tweet.

Chuck Norris has more followers on twitter than @GuyKawasaki. And Chuck isn’t even a member.

I have gotten an amazing education from the people I “met” on twitter. People it would have taken me years to cultivate relationships with – if I got to meet them at all. And when I caught this tweet from IABC president Barbara Gibson about a conference she’s keynoting here in Charlotte, I tweeted her back and we struck up a bit of a conversation. You can bet I’ll introduce myself at the conference – beginning with “I follow you on twitter.”

Photo credit: Steven Bulman via Flickr