Twitter Is My Office
For ten years, I worked in an office. Ya know, the typical office with cubicle-lined rooms, expensive chairs and mediocre coffee. (Okay, I DID work in an office once with a fire pole and a cave for the CEO. It was a weird ad agency that went under. But I digress…)
After my youngest son I was born in 2010, I went from an office worker to a work-from-home employee. And THIS year, I went from that to a freelance marketing consultant. On. My. Own. No office to go to. No free Post-It notes to overuse. And no people to talk to.
But all is not lonely thanks to Twitter. Yes, I’ve written aboutTwitter being like a cocktail party. And every word of that is true. But these days it’s also my office.
In fact, Twitter is where I…
Say Hello in Morning
Sometimes it’s an official good morning, but those kinda get redundant when half the twittersphere says “Good morning, Tweeps. How are you?” I still do it from time to time though.
Regardless, each morning, I check Twitter to respond to greetings and warm up for the day.
Get Latest Info on My Industry
I primarily keep up with two industries: marketing (which includes social media) and blogging. Twitter is the equivalent of discussing hot industry topics with my co-workers. We share articles and learn from each other.
Forget the trade rag; I’ve got Twitter to keep me in the know about my industry.
Hear First about Current Events
I find out more about news on Twitter than just about anywhere these days. Suddenly you see a bunch of tweets for the same topic and realize that something’s going on.
Kind of like people crowding around a radio or someone’s computer at the office. And just like being in an office, it’s hard not to get sucked in when something big is happening somewhere in the world.
Receive Answers to My Questions
When I’m in the middle of work, whether it’s consulting or blogging work, I’ll often have a question. In the office, I used to have a bunch of people in my department to ask. These days I go on Twitter.
In fact, just a couple of days ago I tweeted out an InDesign question and three people jumped in to help me. It’s teamwork at its finest… without the cheesy team-building exercises.
Chat by the Water Cooler
While I don’t remember much chatting being done by actual water coolers, my office days were peppered with chats in the breakrooms, the bathrooms and leaned up against someone’s cubicle “door.”
Now that I work from home, I chat with my co-workers through Twitter. Whether it’s something mundane or a deeper conversation, I get my fix for human interaction in 140 characters.
Make Friends
Unless you work in an evil office, you’ve probably made a friend or two at your office. On Twitter, I’ve made friends. Some turn to real-life friends, some I’ll only meet at a conference and others may forever remain my “Twitter friends.” Regardless, the relationships are real.
Report People to HR
Ya know how work can be. There’s always an a-hole somewhere in the office. On Twitter, spammers are the a-holes (well, we all can name a couple of cyberbullies too I’m sure).
While I used to just ignore the spammers, I decided to start reporting the spammers as, well, spam. I know when five of them get blocked, ten more pop up. But if we all start flagging them maybe they’ll get weary and weak. Kryptonite, baby.
Between Networking Events and Twitter, I’ve Made Peace
Honestly, I had a hard time getting used to not working at an office at first. I missed the comraderie. I missed the laughs. I missed the chit-chat. And even some of the meetings. GASP!
For that real-life human interaction fix, I go to local networking events, work in coffee shops and other things.
Thanks to that and the awesomeness of Twitter, I find myself not minding working from home one bit.
Hey Peeps: Just two more days to enter for a chance to win my upcoming DIY Blog Critique eBook. I’m giving away three so visit this post to enter by August 17.
