Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Again this afternoon, Twitter, or the community more to the point, has come true for me. An Irish entrepreneur asked if I could recommend a lawyer or agency to help him claim debt from a UK based company. So, my first port of call was to ask the question on Twitter. I received no fewer than 8 recommendations publically, by email and by direct message within 10 minutes. Given that each recommendation has come from my community, I’ll have much more trust in passing on the information than had I say, conducted a search on Google.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t like to take advantage by being lazy and getting others to do my search for me - I too, contribute by providing feedback to people looking for recommendations.

Whilst I’m writing this post I might as well highlight the point further by telling you about my trip to New York – I posted the request for a recommended restaurant based on my location. Not only did I get a great response, some people actually went out of their way to search on Google and then read reviews before passing on the recommendation to me. Stunning collaboration! I love it.

If you’re on Twitter then why not subscribe to my ramblings at http://twitter.com/PaulWalsh

It’s way too difficult for me to follow everyone back, but I do take the time to read every message directed to me and where appropriate, I reply either publically or privately by direct message - depending on how much crap I’ve already subjected the community to

So, do I need Google? Perhaps I do. But one thing is for sure, I certainly don’t rely on any type of search as much as I used to - trusted communities who use social networks to communicate and build relationships is the way forward. Remember one thing though, it’s all about people at the end of the day - not the technology.

How have your search habits changed, if at all? Do you use Twitter, Facebook or other tools/networks to find information?