Ginny from the Blog

I stopped in the Harris Teeter at North Hills last night to pick up a bottle of wine on my way home from sewing class. As I was walking to the register, a lonely balloon caught my eye. So I tucked the bottle of wine under my arm (probably not very smart in hindsight, but I didn’t drop it) and snapped this photo with my iPhone.

I posted it to Twitter from the parking lot, and the comments started pouring in:

jrenee9556: aww @GinnySkal…thats so sad.

Season_Moore: @GinnySkal I imagine that was a little startling coming around the corner!

weaselfunk: @ginnyskal http://twitpic.com/do8cz – that’s no lost balloon! it’s ghost child with a balloon!

Thanks for the comments, tweeps! I loved this photo and it really cheered me up after a lousy day.

I normally don’t respond to chain blogs here. But since I’m such a Twitter fan girl, I couldn’t help but participate in this post created by my Triangle tweeps, Jeff Cohen (@dgtlpapercuts) and Kipp Bodner (@kbodnar32).

Here’s how they explained it. Feel free to participate on your own blog and let me know how many of these you marked off your list:

“Since Twitter is still on the top of everyone’s mind, we thought it would be a good time to document 101 uses for Twitter. Since this list was meant to be both fun and educational, we want you to share it with your readers and indicate how you have used Twitter. There are certainly many other uses for Twitter, but we wanted to compile a list that could be created in under one hour. Please feel free to add your own uses in the comments.”

The rules for this post are the following:
1. Please post this on your blog in its entirety
2. Bold or underline your uses for Twitter
3. Add the tag twitter101 to the post
4. Make sure you link back to both of the originating posts: Kipp’s and Jeff’s
5. Add a comment to this post if you like
6. Tweet your post with the hashtag #twitter101

101 Uses for Twitter
1. Answer the Question “What are you doing?”
2. Tell Your Friends Your Going To Jail
3. Alert Your Family That your Plane Has Crash Landed in The Husdon
4. Explain To The World What You’re Eating
5. Announce You’re Currently Peeing
6. Your Chair Can Tell The World You’re Farting
7. Plants Can Tweet You For More Water
8. Say Something That Gets You Fired
9. Gather A Group Of Friends For Drinks
10. Say Something That Gets A Job Offer Pulled
11. Say Something That Angers a Client
12. Complain about a Product or Service
13. Ask for Free Stuff
14. Obsess about Bacon
15. Tweet for Your Dog or Cat
16. Showcase an Endless Array of Self-Portraits
17. Meet People at a Concert
18. Share News
19. Report from a Natural Disaster
20. Pimp Your Blog Links
21. Pimp Your Mom
22. Ask for 1,000,000 Followers
23. Announce the Song You are Listening To
24. Tell People How Awesome Your Macbook Is
25. Wonder How This Twitter Thing Works
26. Gratuitous Cursing
27. Comment That You Are Sitting At Your Desk
28. Make Fun of People Who Use PCs
29. Complain about How Facebook is Ripping Off Twitter
30. Wondering if Anyone Uses MySpace Anymore
31. Ask Someone to Marry You
32. Report on Your Blind Date
33. Tell Everyone What You Thought About the Latest Blockbuster Movie
34. Spoil The Ending of a TV Show
35. Thank Someone for Great Customer Service
36. Complain About Bad Customer Service
37. Bemoan The Fact That Traditional Media Doesn’t Get It
38. Share Speaker’s Speech from Conference
39. Make Fun of People Who Are Not at SXSW
40. Revel That You are Not at SXSW
41. Tell People How Wasted You Are
42. Talk about the Weather
43. Share Heartwarming Stories About Your Kids
44. Link to Photos of Your Vacation
45. Use a Location-Based Service to Tell Everyone about Your Latte, including a photo and a map
46. Post Cute Pictures of Your Pets
47. Meet Members of Your Local Community
48. Sell Stuff
49. Buy Stuff
50. Promote Events
51. Crowdsource Ideas for Things You Get Paid to Know
52. Hire A Freelancer
53. Report on Terrorist Activity
54. Name Drop People You’ve Only Met Online
55. Name Drop People You Are Having Lunch With
56. Send A Message To The President
57. Talk About Which Twitter Desktop App You’re Using
58. Talk About Snuggies
59. Use Stupid Shorthand such as: nom nom, lol, FTW, WTF, etc…
60. Try to Make Others Jealous of How Awesome your City is
61. Pimp The Latest Sci-Fi Trailer
62. Tracking Trends
63. Announce Your Plane has Landed: Wheels Down
64. Review Movies
65. Tell A Story
66. Make a Public Apology
67. Admit You Did Something Stupid
68. Ask for Computer Help
69. Complain about Battery Life
70. Pitch Your Startup to Scoble and Techcrunch
71. Make New Friends
72. Exclaim the Guy/Girl Across the Room is Hot!
73. Argue Politics
74. Wish Twitterville Good Morning
75. Tell your Followers to Have a Good Day
76. Tell the Twitterverse Goodnight
77. Share Quotes
78. Express Your Belief in a Higher Power
79. Avoid Sending E-mail
80. Learn
81. Listen
82. Ask for Help
83. Raise Money for a Charity
84. Share Stats of Social Media’s Growth
85. Auto-Pimp your New Twitter App
86. Auto-DM Welcome New Followers
87. Get a Date
88. Ask for Travel Recommendations
89. Share What You’re Reading Offline
90. Provide Traffic Updates
91. Talks Sports and Update Scores
92. Share Recipes
93. Tell Someone You’re Running Late
94. Find and Share Funny Videos
95. Talk to Your Boss
96. Train Surgeons
97. Make Yourself Look Smart
98. Change the World
99. Bash Microsoft
100. Express your Undying Love for Twitter
101. Retweet

I’ve met so many fun people through Twitter and have had so many fabulous experiences because of it. I was friends with my boyfriend on Twitter before I met him in real life. I’ve managed to meet new people in coffee shops and at events by tweeting where I was. I’ve hired a freelancer through Twitter. I’ve been introduced to delicious new restaurants through Twitter.

If you’re still on the fence about whether you should join or not, I hope this list will provide you some encouragement. If you decide to join, be sure to find and follow me. I’m @GinnySkal.

If you’re on Twitter, you’ve probably read something about the Raleigh Twestival. Details about it have been leaking out under the hashtag #RalTwestival for some time. Here’s what you need to know and why you should go.

What’s the point of Raleigh Twestival?

The Raleigh Twestival is the Triangle’s version of a fundraising event that will be hosted on the same night by Twitter communities in appx. 160 cities worldwide. The goal is to raise money for “Charity: Water” an organization that works to provide access to clean water in developing nations.

When and Where?

The party/fundraiser is from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday Feb. 12 at Edge Office in downtown Raleigh. This is the same cool space where we had the 30THREADS launch party and the most recent Triangle Tweetup.

What will the fundraiser be like?

Um, super fun! Among the highlights:

* The new Raleigh brewery Lonerider Brewing Company will be pouring its hefeweizen, Shotgun Betty, which must be pretty good b/c it received a favorable review on always-picky New Raleigh.

* A video booth where you can record a message to be posted on MyNC and the Twestival blog.

* A silent auction/raffle that includes items from local social media firms, giftcards, and a cute handcrafted Twitter necklace that I made especially for the event.

* A chance to socialize with all the Triangle Tweeps you’ve been following online, but missed at the Triangle Tweetup.

How much are tickets?

Tickets are $11.40 if you buy them in advance or $14 if you buy them at the door. All of the proceeds go to “Charity: Water.” If you can’t attend, but still want to show your support, you can make a $5 donation (or more) via the Raleigh Twestival website.

But I just went to the Triangle Tweetup two weeks ago, why should I pay to go to this?

The Triangle Twitter community has grown a lot in the past two years. It includes people of all different ages, professions, backgrounds and more. Tweetups usually have presentations and not enough time to socialize. This entire event will be a chance for you to socialize and network with all those new tweeps who you didn’t have time to meet recently. All the money goes to charity and it includes beer and food, so really it’s a great bargain.

I think Twitter sounds stupid, should I go anyway?

Absolutely. While this event is targeted toward people who already use Twitter, it’s not exclusively for Twitter users. So consider attending to meet an interesting cross-section of Triangle residents who appreciate the Internet (this does not mean we’re all geeks who blog in our pajamas). Also, this is a great event where single women can meet men and vice versa (so say my single Twitter friends). You may even leave the event convinced that you should join Twitter before it turns into the MySpace of the Internet.

I’m @GinnySkal, and this was your public service announcement about Twitter and Charity: Water. For more details, follow @RalTwestival on Twitter. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I’ll try to get additional information to you.

You can no longer doubt the power of Twitter to build meaningful communities (there weren’t any naysayers were there?). Last night, I was in a room filled with more than 100 Triangle residents who use Twitter, and so many sincere connections were quickly created. It was the first Triangle Tweetup (a meetup for people who use Twitter) of 2009 and the first Tweetup since “Twitter” has truly started to go mainstream. Triangle Tweetups have come a long way since the first one organized by @waynesutton in December 2007, when only five people showed up.

photo by @Dgtlpapercuts

Sincere Connections

It’s a fun rush to spy someone across a room and sort of recognize them from their Twitter avatar. If you’ve been following them for a while, you probably know a lot more about them than some of their close acquaintances and coworkers. When you approach your “tweep” (and you steal a glance at their nametag to confirm it’s the person whose life you’ve been digesting in 140-character bytes) and shake their hand it’s not like connecting with a stranger. Instead, it’s like meeting a pen pal or, in some cases, an old friend.

@jennafleur and @cammicam hang out with the Twitter bird. Photo by @dgtlpapercuts.

New Followers and Friends

Everyone who attends a tweetup is pretty much in agreement that Twitter is more awesome than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off made by your mom. So it’s easy to strike up a conversation with anyone you’re standing next to. All you have to say is: “Dude, what’s your Twitter name?” and follow-up with “Dude, when did you join Twitter?” or a “Dude, why did you join Twitter?” (You can omit the word Dude if it’s not part of your lingo). And from there it’s easy.

Here’s a roundup of the Tweetup that I made for 30THREADS.

Reconnecting with Tweeps

I love my tweeps, but we all lead busy lives, so we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. Luckily we have Twitter to keep up with each other, but there’s nothing like a hug, handshake or a knowing smile from an old Tweep. Tweetups are full of these.

Making a Difference

We decided to use our Twitter powers for good last night and turn the Tweetup into a food drive. We filled three boxes, a large Rubbermaid container and about a dozen plastic bags with cans and boxed goods. I’m going to drop the donations off next week at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, and hope to get a tally on how many pounds we donated. (Photo to the right by @jreesnc).

Silliness Ensues

The clever and creative @ToastySnacks thought it would be fun to turn the Tweetup into a mock prom. She asked @InstantTaylor to be her date and then made gorgeous, detailed sashes declaring them the Tweetup King and Queen. And they decided to start their very own Triangle Tweetup Tradition and pass the sashes on, giving them to me and my boyfriend, @mammalpants. It’s now our responsibility to make them proud and select the King and Queen at the next Tweetup.

Photos by @Waynesutton and @abbyladybug, respectively.

Hopefully, Twitter won’t disapper anytime soon. I’m going to at least relish it as long as it’s around (or until it becomes the MySpace of the social web, whichever happens first). If you were at the Tweetup last night, fill me in on your favorite moment/connection.

And a special thank you to @waynesutton for doing an outstanding job of bringing us all together. It’s always a pleasure.

More than 50 people gathered Thursday for the second Triangle Tweet-Up. If you still don’t know what Twitter is, check out this video. Then start following me. Here’s my take on the tweet-up.

Pick up @girloncamera. Take a wrong turn. Follow the paper signs to the pillow room. Thanks for hosting, Capstrat. Greet @waynesutton as he sets up. Climb the benches and position myself overlooking the room. Tweeple begin streaming in. Friendly banter with @kitch about his bicycle blog. Picture time. Wishing I understood camera settings. Blurry photos of lots of Tweeple. Log on to Twhirl. Room full of mostly white guys. Tweet about lack of diversity. @Critter teaches us about the g-spot. Debating the merits (or lacktherof) of Brightkite. It’s getting hot in here (pretend I sound like Nelly when I say here). Thirsty for a sprite. Settle for a ginger ale. Time to meet some Tweeple. There’s 50+ Tweeple in the room and I know almost 20 of them. Meet some new Tweeps including @davecrist and @lockjaw. You’re Ginny from the Blog. Why, yes, yes I am. So nice to Tweet you. Twitter Diva photo time. Thanks for the Seesmic invite. Now all I need is a Mac. Locked doors make it tricky to get in and out. Love for Twitter is affirmed.

Check out whatistwitter.com for more info.

Follow me on Twitter.

Do you think Twitter is stupid? Tell me why, let’s see if I can convince you otherwise.

The first time I ever heard of Cheerwine was in September 2005. I had just moved to Durham, NC, and a co-worker took me to The Q Shack for lunch. And there it was, Cheerwine mingling with the other fountain sodas. It was so foreign to me, but when I finally tried it I fell in love.

Cheerwine is a sugary, cherry-flavored soda that comes from Salisbury, NC, and in my experience is stocked only in the South.

About a week ago, I went to Cook Out (a North Carolin a-based burger joint) and saw they had Cheerwine floats on the menu. So, while waiting in line, I posted a tweet on Twitter about it (see below).

Have you ever tried Cheerwine? What’s your review?

I’m heading to Atlanta with co-worker and fellow blogger Wayne Sutton. I’ve already read the latest issue of Glamour, blogged about the circus and filled out Valentine’s Day cards. I had to find something else to keep me amused, so I made this video: