2011: a year in review, part deux

You know this time of year everyone is publishing lists about the most shocking, biggest, worst, best whatevers of 2011. And while I was mocking this, I realized my previous post was just that. Cool, Kelly you’re soooooo one of a kind. Oh well. Any list my nephew makes is pretty rad.

However, as it’s inevitable as you near the new year, I keep thinking about this last year. And there’s one thing that stands out in 2011 more than ever.

Drumroll…………..

B-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-lllllllllllll…. (I love onomatopoeia. That’s my drumroll sound…)

TWITTER!

Now, those of you who know me well, know I don’t go far in a conversation without at least one “I’m so gonna tweet that” comment. So you’re not shocked, I’m sure.

But I feel like for any and all of my friends, family, acquaintances, Internet never-mets-whether you’re aware of it or not, I must give love to The Twitter.

Pre-2011 I think I had met three people from Twitter. Thanks to being on the Battle of the Burbs contest with the Smiley Morning Show, I had an influx of followers. One such follower is now a true blue friend whom I enjoy foodie and movie dates. One meet was purely accidental last fall at the Zac Brown Band concert when Dave Smiley (it’s kinda weird how much the SMS show is playing into this) retweeted me and I found myself sitting behind a fellow Twitterer. And I mean literally. Section 112. He was row 2, seat 7 and I was row 3 seat 8. How crazy is that?

And then comes 2011. The Year Twitter Took Over My Life. One morning I pocket tweeted (the curse of smart phones, natch), and the one and only Paul Poteet retweeted me, as a joke. Well, from that retweet, came another new follower who became a friend IRL (in real life, how Internet geeky am I!?). I’m not sure how the rest of my followers-that-became-friends came about, but at some point the coolest kids formed a trivia team, I met some Tweeps at concerts, social media events, realized I had mutual friends with others and on and on. I just adore how Twitter makes Indianapolis feel even more personal.

Words cannot express how special some of these people have become to me. I used to have to spend a lot of my energy trying to explain what Twitter is, what purpose it serves and why I don’t feel weird when I’ve met someone from Twitter. Now, those closest to me see that not only does it serve a professional purpose (I’m no social media expert, but it’s helped build The Savvy Sitter some…and apparently I’m now working on building my brand. ), it’s given me friends I’m grateful for.

Yesterday I tagged along to a social media event that allowed me to connect with, and meet, even more friends from Twitter. Honestly, these people are amazing. It’s nice to be in a room of people you’ve just met, but you feel like you know so well. And of course, some of this may be projected or somewhat…inauthentic. But the majority of these folks are pretty freakin’ awesome.

And now…thanks to the magic of Twitter (and the ridiculous amount of free tickets given away on said social media network), I get to ring in the new year tonight with a large group of these people. I’m pretty lucky.

I’m looking forward to starting 2012 off right.

Peace. Love. Twitter.