Just about a year ago, I was trying to tweet and blog, and I wasn’t having very much luck at it. It all looked so easy and effortless until I started trying to do it. I knew then that any success I would find in this space would be because people took a chance on me. And a year later, as I reflect back on what has happened in my online reality, I must pause to celebrate you.
You write posts that motivate, inspire, and sometimes really tick me off.
You corner me into writing novels in your comment section which result in me meeting more really cool people.
You pick me out of your stream and decide to say hi.
You introduce me to other great people.
You ask me questions that alternately motivate me to find the answer or completely blow my mind.
You offer never-ending, undying support.
You are not afraid to steer me clear when I’m going on the wrong path.
You are not afraid to slap me on the back when I have stroke of good luck.
You open up doors of opportunity for me that I thought were locked with deadbolts.
You read my ongoing ramblings, and then you say nice things about them.
In the end, you can’t really get anywhere in Social Media without people. Without people, who will respond to your tweets? Who will back you up when you’re in a tight spot? Who will listen to you sing nonsense in celebration of something great? Just like in real life, you need people around you. Great people. Even if your goal is solely money-making, you need people. Who is going to click those ads, after all? Who is going to retweet that post? Monkeys aren’t there quite yet. You need people.
I was looking at some of the comments I’ve gotten lately. I don’t get the most comments in the world. I don’t get all that many retweets. But I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t trade the comments I get for anything in the world. They’re your thoughts, your questions, your observations, and representations of time you’re spending on my behalf.
I’m about a month away from turning 1 year old in the online world, and I will never forget, and will always be cognizant of the fact that any success I find and have found is because of you.Without you, I’d just be blogging and tweeting to myself.
Kind of scary, really.
If you stop and think about it, I’ll bet you’re here because of a bunch of great folks too. That’s what this crazy game is really all about, isn’t it?
Thank you for everything you do, even if you just silently read here. I’m here because of you.