Spontaneous Social Persuasion

On Monday, June 16, 2008, at 5:06 PM, I posted the following on Twitter:

Wow. There are some really sick people on twitter. Do me a favor: If you know of any others, let me know so I can follow them too.

At 8:45, a man I’d never heard of before named Wayne Porter responded:

I am not sick, but moderately (yet functionally) deranged. That qualify?

A few tweets and a couple of hours later we picked up the phone and had a mind-blowing 2 hour conversation.

At 1:00 AM the call ended. And my bewilderment began.

In just over 4 hours Wayne and I went from never having made contact to engaging in one of the deepest conversations I’ve had in a very long time. But how?

Before social media like Twitter existed, there’s no telling how much longer it would have taken for us to develop such a relationship. Days, weeks, months? Possibly never?

And yet, without any premeditated attempt to make a “deep connection” on either of our parts, Twitter made it possible for us to almost fall into what promises to be a very beneficial relationship for both of us.

And the feeling is apparently mutual. Wayne has blogged about this encounter here.

I’m not sure either one of us fully understands the social dynamics that made this encounter possible. But I’m certain neither of us was aware of the social dynamics as our encounter unfolded. It just unfolded. Spontaneously. Courtesy of Twitter.

And while relationships that develop at breakneck speeds via social networks may not be the norm yet, they soon will be.

If you’re not convinced, just wait. There’s no telling where that next tweet may lead you.

PS. While Wayne initially responded to my “sick tweet” mentioned earlier, he told me he actually decided to learn more about me after reading an earlier tweet of mine on persuasion.

Point being, you may never know what will lead to that next profitable relationship. But you can bet it’s likely to be something you’ll have said quite spontaneously somewhere in the world of social media.