I blame @ghidotti

#LRTweetup killed my blog.

Before I gave myself fully over to the microblog, I was cranking out three posts a week to wholebrevitything.com, but then the 140-character miracle took over my social life, and I found a truer whole brevity thing. Okay, maybe it didn’t kill this blog, but I need someone/something to blame. I love to blog, but as far as time investment goes, Twitter is just way too easy.

I joined Twitter in the fall of ’07, but I did not really become an active user until the following summer when I got hooked on @Loopt. Loopt was the bridge that moved me from Facebook to Twitter. I went from tweeting once or twice a month to tweeting like ten whole times a week.

The Little Rock Twitter scene raised it’s head above water in the fall of ’08, and then really took off in the Spring of 2009 – I blame Lance Turner and his LR Twitter directory. Yes, back then, there were so few Little Rock folks using Twitter that Lance could house all of our names in a single blog post.

Soon, the idea of this crew getting together in person started churning and then this happened:

I jumped in with a two word commitment

I’ll save you the chronology of the next twelve months of this community’s growth, but that first night was an awesome experience of having drinks with a competitor, meeting amazing young talent, discovering how hilarious @robertblake truly is, and learning that there really was a person behind the pseudonym, @tsudo.

If it doesn't have a hashtag, it didn't happen

It has been very difficult for me to put into words how LRTweetup has crossed Twitter over from an online chat into real world relationships, so let me get all PowerPointy on you:

• This has turned my colleagues into my friends.
• This has nurtured kindred spirits out of profile pics.
• This has shot the hell out of Dunbar’s number.
• I have hired two people because I first got to know and trust them through this local Twitter community.
• This community have shown me real, tangible love and concern.
• My heart goes out to these folks when their lives get sideways, and I really do smile with them when they stumble into happiness. (however, I will never LOL)

It is surreal how real these LRTweetup connections have become. I feel very lucky to have found a place with these friends. Maybe I can get these folks to help me kick start this blog back to life.

I’m out of words now…

(ps. If you haven’t been following #LRTweetup Stories, I think that it would really be worth your time to do so.)