CNN, Ashton Kutcher, Oprah Winfrey and Twitter

Yesterday while I was busy putting on SMBNH, attending meetings, making calls and generally having a typical Friday, the Twitterverse was all atwitter over the Ashton Kutcher vs CNN following challenge for charity and Oprah Winfrey’s first tweet.

Overall, my reaction is nothing but positive to this sudden awakening of awareness for Twitter and other social media applications. I saw so many early adopters saying it was a “black day for Twitter”, or “Black Friday” or saying Twitter was selling out and wouldn’t be the same. It made me angry. How dare we, as early adopters, not welcome new people into our fold?

To explain a bit further, let me remind you that everything changes. Nothing in life stays the same. That’s both the beauty and power of this connectivity we are afforded by social media and online tools - we can ride the changes like a wave. Here I sit, excited for this chance to finally join my off line and on line worlds more fully, to have more people who are not as immersed in technology as I am accept that the internet is more and more an essential part of life. Here I sit, ready to help prepare the unprepared for the future.

That’s right. I want to help show people the best ways to use our tools. I am so disappointed in the people who see this as an invasion rather than a joining, an opportunity. We, as the early adopters, have this unprecedented chance to make people feel welcome, to offer real help, to direct how this wave turns. Instead, so many turn up their noses at the regular people who want to come into our sphere and see what all the fuss is about.

Instead of pushing the new people away, making them feel unwelcome and leaving them at the mercy of the Twitter scammers, twinfomercial snake oil salesmen and follow-count gamers, why are you not stepping up and reaching out a hand? I know I am. This new technology is all about forging connections, joining forces, and seeing what can happen when people work together. I’m excited to see what will happen when Twitter starts acting as a real bridge between the technology buffs, the off liners, the companies, the artists, governments and more.

It’s not just about Twitter, either. Sure that’s the media darling right now, but there over 600 other tools out there that we can be helping people find, use, and enjoy to their benefit. Why push these people away? CONNECT. REACH OUT.

Ashton Kutcher may not be your cup of tea as an early adopter, but I think he is starting to get part of what Twitter can do, and he is using it for charity, as are other celebs on Twitter. From the CNN article on their contest:

“At the end of the day, we all have ego, we all have some level of ego,” he said. “But if we can use our ego to actually create good charitable things in the world in some way, and use our ego — originally, I defined Twitter as an ego stream when I first saw it. But then what I realized is if we can transform that into something that’s positive that can actually effectively change the world, that can be a really valuable tool.”

Being on Twitter is about more than follower count. Follower count only matters to a point. It’s what you DO with those followers, and how you listen as well as talk, that matters. Are you making a difference, forging relationships, or are you putting up road blocks and building walls?