My twitter experience….
generalThis post is a little different to what I intend to use this blog for, but I wanted my first real post to pay tribute to an excellent twitterer and a good friend.
To many people twitter is a tool to grow their business, or increase their connections within their location and industry,and used properly it is an excellent tool to do that, but to some people it is more than that. I am one of those people.
There are a lot of blog posts out there that tell you how to use twitter for business. I’m not going to bore you with a long list of do’s and don’ts, instead, probably the best advice I can give is to let your personality shine through. This is what @leunix did.
I joined twitter in July 2008, considering my profession (at the time I was a junior front end web developer/mac artworker) I was late to join the newest craze. Regularly participating in discussions at the www.boagworld.com forums, I noticed a thread where people introduced themselves and gave their twitter id for you to follow, so one day I thought why not… and never looked back!
One of the first people to follow me back was @leunix, a web developer working in Shrewsbury. Based in Shrewsbury myself, we quickly became ‘twitter’ friends. Regularly discussing such important topics as which was the best coffee to order at the local Café Nero.
Later, @shropgeek was formed and several of us local twitter geeks started to meet up regularly. Through my time on twitter and our regular meet ups I like to think I got to know @leunix reasonably well. Not only was he one of the most talented web developers I have ever had the privilege to meet, but, he genuinely cared about the people around him.
He never seemed to mind me quizzing him about the best way to approach a project (On one occasion he completely baffled me with an entirely new way to code that I’d never even looked at before! ). He liked to have a joke and helped make my twitter experience fun. This particular post still stands out as one of my favourites.
Sadly, @leunix passed away on 18th September 2009, he was 27. His loss has left a gap which is hard to describe, but nevertheless it is there. This is not to say that I haven’t discovered a lot of other fantastic people through twitter though, because I have.
My twitter experience has helped me to become a better web developer and has given me the confidence to know that I am good at what I do. I get to hear about new technologies and apps much more quickly than relying on reading RSS feeds and strangely, it is also an excellent way to keep up with current affairs. I first heard about the death of Micheal Jackson through twitter (I also heard many jokes).
With most things in life, you get out what you put in, and this is certainly true of twitter. It was an honour and a privilege to have had the opportunity to get to know @leunix, and I will always be thankful for that day I was bored and decided to join twitter…. ~ grin!
Tags: business, marketing, social networking, twitter
Great post…so sad about @leunix, so young as well.
Great start, Kirst! I reckon @leunix would have liked reading it.
I really like the theme it looks funky but clean. Hope you have fun with it!
I use twitterfeed, by the way, to tweet posts as they become available. It’s pretty useful for pinging tweeps, especially plebs like me who forget to read their feed subscriptions! We use if for @nodalities too, and @rww uses it (if I recall correctly) to tweet new ReadWriteWeb posts.
Good luck!
Very well done Kirsty, a great first post and one that shares and celebrates your friends life.
Keep it up, this will be going on my RSS reader
What a lovely post
I think @leunix would have gone a nice shade of red – because the silly boy would rarely accept compliments – but then deep down he would have known that all of what you have said is true, and it would have made him very happy 
I love your blog theme btw! I like the different textures, the layout, and the colours. It mixes lots of ideas without feeling pretentious or try-hard. Very funky! ~grin!
Hi,
I found your blog via @zbeauvais. I never knew @leunix, but I am sure he’d have appreciated your tribute to him. Well done on your first blog post, and I’m hoping you find time for more. Please keep writing!
Great post and a pity to hear about your friend. I’m sick of the amount of people trying their hardest to get somewhere on Twitter. I know I’m not a major member of the medium, but I just try and be myself rather than just posting fifty blog posts a day and doing nothing else.
Subscribed to your feed. Looking forward to reading your blog every day. Just kidding, don’t update it everyday or content will become worthless
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This is a really lovely tribute Kirsty. It was @leunix who got me onto twitter in the first place, and I always loved his crazy tweets. He was a great twitterer, as well as a great friend.
I must say I like your theme too. Keep up the good work!
Nice first post, Kirsty, I’m sure @leunix would have appreciated it.
I look forward to reading more…!
Thanks also for the introduction to twitter, I completely agree that it should be used as a way to meet like minded people and that users should let their personality show through. And you are the only twitterer I know with their own trademark… ~grin
Great post Kirsty,
I’m sad to hear about @leunix, 27 is so young.. but if they’ve got good broadband in the afterlife i’m sure he enjoyed reading it.
LOVE the theme as well… consider me subscribed
@leunix will be missed, talked to him a little from time to time, generally poked fun at each ohter…. i love the little month of lunches