I do not know his name, but I recall a photographer in Egypt (possibly) was arrested for taking pictures of a rally and tweeted that he was arrested before they took his phone away. Thanks to the help of the community, he was freed a few days later.
That is the real power of Twitter.
Andrew Warner
· 1 year ago
I'm in a Mashable article! How cool.
As the post said, I was in the cold, at the side of the highway for a long time. And I couldn't believe that neither 911 nor the cab companies could do anything.
I twittered out of habit and BAM! I got a response.
DougJ
· 1 year ago
I once ran out of coffee at my local diner and the waitress was nowhere to be found. I called 911 but they wouldn't do anything about it. Can you believe it?
I twittered my situation and in 15 minutes a complete stranger dropped by with a venti coffee from the Starbucks across the street. Thanks Twitter!
Silly yanks.
· 1 year ago
911 isn't for roadside assistance you dumbass.
You join an automobile company for something like that. Here in Australia we have RACQ.
Failing that you call a tow truck.
911 is for emergencies.
Jessica Gottlieb
· 1 year ago
And the punchline is that I'm now doomed to 16 weeks of football.
Yikes!
Be careful what you wish for.
Daniel Taylor
· 8 months ago
Apparently, Twitter will get you through times of no football better than football will get you through times of no Twitter.
Or something.
David Saunders
· 1 year ago
I Tweeted some restaurant recommendations for someone visiting DC for the weekend. Next thing I know, I receive a free guest ticket for an event going on in the area that weekend. With the value of the ticket plus the giveaways I received while I was there, that was easily $250. Not a bad exchange for Tweeting about my favorite falafel spot.
Robin Bernstein
· 1 year ago
OK, this didn't make it into the article, but David invited us to post more stories here. My favorite "great Twitter moment" (so far!) was winning the newly reissued HOLIDAYS ON ICE by David Sedaris, one of my all-time favorite authors. In September, publisher Little Brown (@littlebrown) tweeted that they'd give a free copy of the book to the fifth tweeter to reply. Apparently I was a little too quick on the draw, because I was one of the first four. But Little Brown generously extended the offer to the four of us because, as they tweeted, "...you rock, too." Had the book in my hot little hands the following week.
Andrea
· 1 year ago
last spring, I think it was, there was a gunman on campus at one of the US's universities. Some of the people I follow were there, and they used twitter back and forth, silently, so they could hide, get out of the way, and find exits.
I think in this case maybe only one person was shot? Or maybe none. It was very little anyway.
Mark Krupinski
· 1 year ago
You forgot John Chow tweeting everyone at IZEAfest 2008 that he had to use the restroom.
lizriz
· 1 year ago
What a jerk! Twittering about his date while she's in the bathroom... and then he tells her he's on Twitter?!?!?
A jerk *and* dumb as a bag a hammers! LOL
Boris
· 1 year ago
A few weeks ago I discovered the most amazing pair of skis ever built. It has a built in chip that makes the skis adapt to the piste. Anyway, I wanted it but found it too expensive. I twittered "I want this ski but can't afford it. Someone has a job for me so I can earn them?". Within 10 minutes a Ski blog replied and said 'If you can advise us on our blogging strategy for one day we will get you the skis". I spent one day in their offices and got the skis. They are worth close to a 1000 euros so we both got a good deal.
missbelgium
· 1 year ago
I recently was responsible for launching a new website for the company I work for. Being the only person remotely involved in marketing and communication in the firm, I didn't have a lot of resources for testing on different platforms and my budget didn't allow for a huge test cycle. So I wrote a tweet about it asking my followers to let me know if it worked ok. I immediately got a lot of responses and screenshots of all the different browsers and platforms they use, which made it very easy to make the necessary changes. Not a lifesaving tweet, but it helped me out big time!
Dr. Apps
· 1 year ago
Wow, first off thanks to David for mentioning me in this article! I've already had 8 new people follow me since the posting of this article. I also want to say that even if you don't follow someone or someone doesn't follow you, it doesn't mean someone like me won't reach out and try to help you. I use Twitterspy (used to use Twitter track when it was available) to notify me when people tweet certain terms or topics I am knowledgeable in such as "vista help". That way I'm able to find people (who I don't follow or even know) that need assistance with something I can help them with.
Originally I was just going to use Twitter to tweet about new software releases. Then I started helping random people solve tech issues and found it became a nice way to interact bi-directionally (and meaningfully) with them. To me, that's the beauty of Twitter, the ability to reach out to a complete stranger and help them in any number of ways. I guess my point is that there's more to Twitter than people trying to market or sell you things, there's a lot of people on there who share similar interests or have gone through similar hardships (technological and otherwise) and need support . Twitter on, peeps! :)
(PS: Just to clarify that in David's case, I do follow him and that's how I knew to tweet him about the coupon I had. But the majority of people I've helped I found through Twitter track (when it existed) and now through Twitterspy.)
Shaun Dakin
· 1 year ago
Thanks for the mention.
It is too bad that politicians continue to exempt themselves from Do Not Call law.
1 - Creating a Political Do Not Call Registry 2 - Testifying in the US Senate about robo calls (Sen. Feinstein’s Robocall Privacy Act) 3 - Forcing states to enforce existing robo call laws (CA, MN, NJ, etc..) 4 - Getting politicians to take a do not robo call pledge (7 have)
Here is a quote from a member recently:
"I'm a shift worker, working variable shifts. I depend on my sleep to be able to do my job safely and efficiently. I'm a locomotive engineer. Imagine the disaster were I to fall asleep, operating a freight train carrying hazardous materials in your neighborhood, due to fatigue from being awoken in my middle of the night on a continuous basis during election season. Please stop.."
I have been using twitter for all my needs. I have found interesting stories and interesting people ready to help each other any time. Applications development is so easy with twitter. It is fun!!!
Sonny Gill
· 1 year ago
You definitely forgot the Amber Alert that spread across Twitter for a 14 year old girl that was missing. That was huge.
stiennon
· 1 year ago
I am working with a new website that is hosting video interviews with industry experts/luminaries, etc. with me as the host. I needed to fill a week with interviews at the studio in Brisbane, CA. I posted to Twitter on the Wednesday before and had ten interviews scheduled by Friday.
ann
· 1 year ago
Maybe not as dramatic as some of the other comments (with jail and missing children and whatnot), but when Firefox 3 launched, I had trouble with the Facebook page loading badly. I twittered a gripe about it, and within minutes someone from firefox had contacted me with the solution. Wild. What customer service! @sojochick
robca
· 1 year ago
I haven't had any cool experiences like the above but do find twitter very addictive. I especially like using it on the iPhone with location services - it's very interesting see what people around you are talking about and could have very interesting implications. Definitely the best web app in the last couple of years.
Another great twitter moment - I ordered with stompernet dvds about a month or so ago and didn't get my package. No reply to my emails so I twittered about it and low and behold someone from stompernet contacted me through twitter.
- Sam
Jesse Luna
· 1 year ago
[viddler_video=4d4ff080]
well-seasoned
· 1 year ago
I just don't get Twitter, and columns like this make me think Twitter addicts are really idiots. Calling 911 because you didn't notice it was getting dark while riding your bike? Can't believe the guy really has a girlfriend who'd pick him up, she should lose the loser.
Mikkel
· 1 year ago
I'm a communications student. While I was looking for an internship I tweeted a bit about it. Then one day I got a private message on Twitter from the founder of a very cool agency offering me a position. I'll be starting January 1st.
Amybeth Hale
· 1 year ago
I was able to raise about $900 for my upcoming aid trip to South Africa via Twittering requests for fund-raising!
Also, I was able to gain sponsorship through ERE.net to attend the Web 2.0 Expo conference in San Francisco back in April, to cover the conference from a recruiting tools and resources perspective.
You just never know what is available to you unless you ask!
@copyblighter
· 8 months ago
Surely, @twitchhiker deserves a mention for hitch-hiking around the world with only the generosity of fellow twitterers for help.
Wendy B
· 7 months ago
I'll add #17... 12 for 12k did a tweet-a-thon and raised thousands of dollars for charity in just a few short hours. That is awesome use of Twitter.
All Comments
That is the real power of Twitter.
As the post said, I was in the cold, at the side of the highway for a long time. And I couldn't believe that neither 911 nor the cab companies could do anything.
I twittered out of habit and BAM! I got a response.
911 but they wouldn't do anything about it. Can you believe it?
I twittered my situation and in 15 minutes a complete stranger dropped by with a venti coffee from the Starbucks across the street. Thanks Twitter!
You join an automobile company for something like that. Here in Australia we have RACQ.
Failing that you call a tow truck.
911 is for emergencies.
Yikes!
Be careful what you wish for.
Or something.
I think in this case maybe only one person was shot? Or maybe none. It was very little anyway.
A jerk *and* dumb as a bag a hammers! LOL
Originally I was just going to use Twitter to tweet about new software releases. Then I started helping random people solve tech issues and found it became a nice way to interact bi-directionally (and meaningfully) with them. To me, that's the beauty of Twitter, the ability to reach out to a complete stranger and help them in any number of ways. I guess my point is that there's more to Twitter than people trying to market or sell you things, there's a lot of people on there who share similar interests or have gone through similar hardships (technological and otherwise) and need support . Twitter on, peeps! :)
(PS: Just to clarify that in David's case, I do follow him and that's how I knew to tweet him about the coupon I had. But the majority of people I've helped I found through Twitter track (when it existed) and now through Twitterspy.)
It is too bad that politicians continue to exempt themselves from Do Not Call law.
StopPoliticalCalls.org is fighting for the privacy of the American voter.
1 - Creating a Political Do Not Call Registry
2 - Testifying in the US Senate about robo calls (Sen. Feinstein’s Robocall Privacy Act)
3 - Forcing states to enforce existing robo call laws (CA, MN, NJ, etc..)
4 - Getting politicians to take a do not robo call pledge (7 have)
Here is a quote from a member recently:
"I'm a shift worker, working variable shifts. I depend on my sleep to be able to do my job safely and efficiently. I'm a locomotive engineer. Imagine the disaster were I to fall asleep, operating a freight train carrying hazardous materials in your neighborhood, due to fatigue from being awoken in my middle of the night on a continuous basis during election season. Please stop.."
Learn more.
Shaun Dakin
CEO
http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org
A non-profit fighting for the privacy of the American voter
@sojochick
@robca
- Sam
Also, I was able to gain sponsorship through ERE.net to attend the Web 2.0 Expo conference in San Francisco back in April, to cover the conference from a recruiting tools and resources perspective.
You just never know what is available to you unless you ask!
Great post - thanks for sharing these.