So I have utilized the forces of a social networking tool called "Twitter" for the past ten months. I am waiting for the Jedi report card but I think all is well. In that past near-anum, I have met a plethora of wonderful people whom I consider blessings in my life, my darling fiance @LeeHiller (the love of my life), a good many people whom I call friends (I can talk to them on the phone and we speak as if we've known each other a lifetime, my newly-adopted Sister, @KathyIreland, who has taught me right from wrong (I am 55 so I felt it was about time but I wanted a very good teacher; they do not get any better). A shining example to us all is @DameElizabeth, she has never stopped fighting for those with HIV/AIDS and has joined with @KathyIreland to raise money for the Christian Alliance Schools.
The Liz Taylor/KathyIreland story is interesting to me for a variety of reasons. Dame Elizabeth educated us all early in the AIDS epidemic not to hate or have fear but to find solutions. Others tried later but she put her money were her mouth was. I will never forget how her wisdom kept our fragile culture adhered in a time where it could have easily fallen apart.
Another interesting aspect is that when President Obama called on all religions to work together and find common goals. Liz and Kathy were the first to answer the President's clarion call by Elizabeth and Kathy. Kathy and her husband are instrumental in the Alliance For Christian Education. Elizabeth is Jewish and donated $100,000 to start a "follow @KathyIreland On Twitter" and "angels" would give $10 for every follow. Kathy graciously allowed me to volunteer at the start to help raise awareness that she was there, and, to become the White House liaison to nominate Elizabeth for the Presidential Freedom Medal. Though Liz did not receive the medal, Twitterers gathered in huge numbers and bombarded a private mailbox at the White House, so much so that the White House had to call me on the phone and actually ask me to put a stop to the tweeting. Well, she was surely the people's choice if not the President's. The same committee now has nominated her for a Nobel Peace Prize u sing the same reasons in the same letters we wrote the white house. The category is medicine and we won't know for another 8-10 months. Good luck Elizabeth! You surely deserve it.
I have met Rick, the @epilepsyguy and his sister Marilyn, both super wonderful and funny persons from Detroit. OK OK, who is NOT funny from Detroit, I ask. Have met and even enjoyed a friendship and business relationship with @MarielHemingway. I can't think of a person I'd rather have a friend. She watches your front, your back, is a more loyal friend than a Golden Retriever and a super business associate. Mariel saved both our lives with her eating and healthy living tips, and never wavered. We will always be grateful. She truly knows her work. Mariel is one of those rare people who, no matter what is there for you, regardless of her (often crazed) schedule, wonderful boyfriend Bobby Williams, and a million other irons in the fire.
Lee and I have met some of the craziest of the crazed; some of whom have hired us to do tasks which have taken days, weeks, or months, on a volunteered basis, then "fired us". LOL. Of that we have gotten the biggest laugh. We have met faux dojo mystical martial arts leaders who form "charities" that don't give reporting and have a locked Twitter account. Really instill confidence in giving much less respecting. LOL.
We have met cyber-sages with very positive messages such as @eleesha, @planethealer and @BarbaraDuke. No matter what the day, one can read their offerings and feel better. Dr. Tom V. Morris @TomVMorris does not tweet much these days due to the fact that he is spending the bulk of his time with his large family in North Carolina. He was always the voice of reason on Twitter; a superb philosopher and author, having published 20 books! I was humbled when he asked me to write a blurb for the back of "Twisdom" which I did and still am stunned. He and his wife Mary have helped Lee and I a great deal in managing and learing about ourselves in our relationship, and gone out of the way to make sure we had solid info to have a good one that works. And it does. Thank you Tom and Mary.
@LeeHiller has introduced me to @HootSuite which has been a Godsend for "scheduled tweets" which is the saving grace of Twitter promoting. After Twitter banned auto-tweets, it left open scheduled tweets since they are anything but auto. Still, some very confused twitterers, some of whom claimed to be working in the media yelled "Fowl, You are Auto-Tweeting....Spam Spam Spam Spam". First of all auto tweeting is about as far from spam as chicken and onions. Scheduled tweeting even further away, but so many need a scapegoat for their own business shortcoming. Such is history. Lee and I have met so many sweet people such as @HellOPolitics2U formerly @ReikEoh, a brilliant journalist and cartoonist as well as @AlexRaffi who creates wild cartoons, video, paintings and other art forms like no other, and @LindaVanoff a brilliant artist of the Photographic medium.
We have met @LynnMosher who gives a spiritually uplifting message to all on her blog. And though it evolves from a Christian perspective, (and I am not even Christian); it is words by for which to live. It pertains to us all.
And as my professors instructed me when I returned to school in my forties, "Any social network will have its advantages and disadvantages for creating awareness of your goods and products (Twitter was just starting up then). But he advised us, "All social networks can also be "lonely hearts clubs, and many use them as such who maybe cannot afford the dating sites fees. Be friendly but be fair and let them know you are there to do business. If they do not like it, move on and meet other folks. Most social networks have plenty. No need to spam; (that is, direct your unsolicited message at a particular user), but network hard and heavy, or nobody else is going to do it for you".
And he was correct. It will be thirteen years from which I founded my offbeat cartoon property and four years since I began my funny gift shops. Nobody really new a lot about them until these past few years until I started heavily using facebook and Twitter. That can be a pain in the arse but it is common sense that to not do it, along with creating products from the cartoons (in other words don't make social networking one's entire life with very little or nothing to sell, then it has served its purpose, and you (or I in this case) is helping brand the network each time I post there. It's win win for everyone.
From @38Harmony to @Lorimoreno who deliver daily messages of love on Twitter, (and passion for life), these are just a few. There are many more, of which I will be writing soon. If you did not see your Twitter user name in this article, not to worry. I will be writing more over the months. Am just testing my writing skills now after several weeks of being under the weather and not writing. Thanks for your patience.
Rick London is a writer/designer/entrepreneur and founder of Google's #1 ranked offbeat cartoon funny gifts where he sells tees, mugs, greeting cards, etc. bearing his Londons Times Cartoon images, and his over 8000 offbeat cartoons Londons Times which have remained #1 on the Internet since 2005.
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