Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

I’m sitting in Le Pain Quotidien cafe wondering what I can work on until my cinema date at 8pm arrives and a wonderful tweet comes in from my good friend Jackie Danicki, inspiring this wee blog post. It’s obviously in response to someone complaining about how some people protect their twitter updates. Below is what Jackie said (because they’re protected, I asked if it was ok to quote her).

Astonished at how entitled some people feel to see others’ Twitter updates. I use Twitter for my uses; you use it for yours.

Protected updates mean I can converse with a small, intimate, trustworthy group. Would you crash a private conversation in a pub or home?

Just very puzzled as to why some people are so concerned with how others use Twitter. It’s none of your business. Move on.

This reminds me when I tweeted back in the early days that twitter was turning into a conversational tool. To which some replied ‘I think that’s stupid’. Why? Probably because they used it as one-way communication messages at the time (i.e different to how I used it).

I can understand why Jackie protects her updates, she’s a private person and only wants to communicate with people she knows and trusts. What’s wrong with that?

My online experience of EasyJet when trying to change my flight was pretty horrific. OK. That’s half true. The site wouldn’t allow me to change it and I was unable to find a phone number to call their helpline. So, true to my style, I turned to my twitter community for help. And as usual, they came up trumps - a user called flyawwway replied with the phone number +44 871 244 2377 within minutes. After less than 5 minutes on the call, I was put straight through to a human and my flight was changed. Problem sorted.

But that’s not all and this is why my online experience with EasyJet wasn’t entirely negative - minutes later on Twitter I received a response from easyJetCare - according to their profile, ‘ If you need any assistance, Paul and his team are able to offer support which can improve your experience when traveling with easyJet’. Paul from EasyJet continued the conversation online to ensure I was a happy customer.

I’m extremely impressed by EasyJet’s adoption to Twitter, as I was and still am, with Lastminute.com who responded in the same way when we had issues changing flights with them.

I sent a tweet this morning to say I was going to do a ‘#followfriday’ for the very first time. A number of people asked me what that meant, so I’ve decided to write a short post to explain.

#followfriday is a way of recommending people you follow, to other users on Twitter. The idea is that those being recommended will gain new followers.

I feel so strongly about my recommendations that I’ve decided to write why I’m recommending them as potential people for you to follow.

People I recommend and why

@Sheetalmmehta (London)

Helping companies to go global, Innovation, Social entrepreneurship, Technology, Investment…

Sheetal is one of the most inspiring people I have ever met. Sheetal is the UK Dealmaker for the UK Trade & Investment. She sits on several advisory panels including Shelter, UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), Digital Diaspora Network for Africa, and the LSE Alumni Mentoring Committee. Her volunteer work is extensive and she is currently writing a book on Social Venture Capital. One of her most notable accomplishments is her new foundation that enables developing communities to access cutting-edge technology based on a social enterprise model.

@Mikeyfletch (London)

Technology journalist, Events, Networking

Mike is an established business & lifestyle journalist. He’s launched three magazines on behalf of UK publishing house Haymarket Media Group & specialises in marketing, media & live events. He is Contributing Editor for Visit London and also owns a part-share in digital networking company Net.works. Mike is also one of the best connected, if not the best connected person in the entire UK events industry.

@PatPhelan (Cork)

Technology with a bias towards mobile, Connector, Innovation

Pat is the founder and President of Cubic Telecom, a well known disruptor in telephony circles and one of the leading voices of Voice 2.0. Pat has developed a number of unique products for the USA, UK and Irish markets including MAXroam, and is a board member of Global Roaming, a NASDAQ listed company (OTCBB:GRDB). Pat has a genuine passion for connecting people and has been responsible for connecting me with some truely amazing people.

@JackieDanicki (San Francisco)

Marketing (true expert in the use of new tools, techniques and trends such as social and Web 2.0), Connector, Writer

Jackie is an extremely direct person who always speaks her mind. She’s an incredibly insightful marketer which is difficult to come by. Almost every marketer and PR expert think they know how to make best use of Web 2.0 tools and techniques. Jackie does - which is why she’s the Director of Marketing at Qik; one of the most innovative mobile products companies in the world. Like Pat, Jackie has a genuine passion for connecting people and has been responsible for connecting me with some truely amazing people.

@Jobsworth (London)

Technology, Social Enterprise, Innovation, Writer, OpenSource,

JP has  spent most of his life working in the space where finance meets technology, for a number of very large firms. Since 2006 he has worked for BT, as part of BT Design, where he is Head of Innovation and Strategy. He has a passion for how work is changing: the paradigms created by globalisation, disintermediation and the web; the implications of virtualisation, service orientation and commoditisation.  JP is an inspiring speaker and writer, who I admire most for his passion for how technology can be put to good use for the benefit of society.

If you decide to follow any of these great people, or you do already, please feel free to retweet my message - they all deserve to be heard by as many people as possible.

You can also leave a comment with the people you recommend on Twitter.

I announced the registration page for OpenSoho June this morning and as a result of all the retweets from Computer Weekly, The Telegraph and others, my announcement had a potential reach of approximately 15,000 people. This can only help to demonstrate the power of twitter for marketing events, products and services. With this in mind, I decided to tweet this fun statistic in the hope someone would also retweet that, and they did, Milo from the Telegraph retweeted it. Oh the joy of it all.

In April 2008 I wrote some twitter tips to help new users better understand how to use the social network - my post includes how to make your messages more prone to being retweeted by others as I did above. Why not check them out.

I’ve been suffering from a weird intermittent cough since December and after many months of pestering from friends and family, I decided to get it check by a specialist - not a bad idea given that my GP couldn’t cure it with three lots of antibiotics and the like.

It turns out that I might not have had pleurisy after all. The pain in my side every time I coughed, according to the specialist, was probably down to a cracked rib. It’s no wonder I was in so much pain every time I laughed.

What I’m left with now, is kinda like Asthma, but not long-term. My wind pipe is tight and inflamed, which means I’ll be on an inhaler for a couple of months - so nothing major. At least I know what it is and it can be fixed.

Anyway, I decided to write this post as a result of my weird, but very funny visit to the specialist today. I asked if it was ok for me to take a picture of my chest x-ray. He said “sure, I’m going to give it to you anyway - is it for Facebook?” - to which I replied, “er, kinda. It’s for a service called Twitter, have you ever heard of it?”. “Yes of course, replied the 50-something year old doctor. I don’t use it myself but I know what it is”.

The clincher was his closing “perhaps you can link to my name when you’re all cured?! giggle”.

Social media 1. Twitter specifically, 2. Skeptics, 0.

Love it.