Twitter Bug

Yup, I’ve got it, the Twitter bug. It started just before NeoCon when some friends mentioned that it would be cool for me to Twitter from the show about the wonderful green products I was sure to see. They could then vicariously follow me around the Mart without having to endure a cab ride into the city from O’Hare.

A successful Twitterer has followers who are people who want to read your Tweets. I have, as of today 120, which is a puny number compared to say Ashton Kutcher who has 2,340,505 followers, but his life is far more fascinating than mine, unless of course you really care about the fabulous fabric/flower display Heather Bush put together in the Carnegie showroom. If not, you might be happier following Ashton who recently tweeted, “quickest way 2 make your dreams come tru is 2 find sum1 who needs it more than u & giv it 2 them." Hey, you only have 140 characters to convey your deepest thoughts.

I digress. The value of Twitter is not only your followers (I love all 120 of you) but whom you follow. I’m following Grist (6,616 followers), Treehugger (20,253), Al Gore (1,252,577), USGBC (1,872) and about 16 others. Supposedly if I pay attention to their Tweets I will gain useful information and insights. Gail Doby (1,866), an electronic social networking expert, says that she’s made “incredible connections with high-level people in our industry. Once you meet on Twitter, you can take that offline to create business alliances.” That hasn’t happened for me yet but I don’t think I’m investing the time.

Twitter can mean serious business. The top topics of the day are Iran and its election - it’s being used as a primary means of communication by the protesters, but #6 – Jon and Kate. Go figure!

Here’s a reminder – don’t forget to sign up for the Green Design Summit. The lineup of 13 speakers includes Graham Hill, Founder of TreeHugger, Ed Begley, Jr. - co-host of "Living With Ed" on Green Planet, Michael Port - NY Times Best Selling Author of The Think Big Manifesto, Sarah Susanka, FAIA, architect, interior designer and author of eight books, Libby Langdon, HGTV star and author – and me!

There are a whole bunch of freebies included in the $297 ticket price, the best of which is that you don’t even have to attend the summit – register and you will receive downloadable MP3 recordings and transcripts of each speaker and can listen whenever and as often as you choose.

One more thing: follow me at twitter.com/pennybonda. I’ve a long way to go to catch up to Ashton.