Tonight we went to see David Sedaris read essays and entertain a crowd at the Cobb Energy Center (I know, Cobb is an odd choice for the public-radio listening crowd). As expected, it was hilarious and entertaining. There was even a question about Twitter. Someone in the audience asked if he was on Twitter, and he proceeded to say that he’s only been on the internet since June. He won’t be using Twitter until everyone else has moved on and is doing something else.
After getting home, of course I had to post the obligatory tweet about enjoying the show with a reference to something only others attending would understand. And let’s face it, that’s how you get street cred, by letting everyone know “I was there” (you know you do it… it’s no different than putting the Apple sticker in the rear window of your car). What’s surprising is that I immediately received a response from someone I don’t even know which said “@rockyhunter I was the one that asked him why he wasn’t on Twitter. Glad we got a funny story out of it.” Whoa, that was unexpected. This lead me to immediately run a Twitter search on “Sedaris”. Wow there were a lot of us there in the crowd. Suddenly I’m reading 140 character snippets of others who were sitting in the same auditorium with me two hours ago, enjoying the same entertainment. Our collective shared experience just became a bit more personal with people I don’t even know. Â Nonetheless, reading through the tweets simulated an experience you might have with friends reliving the event together over a drink.
This has happened to me one other time. On the Sunday the AJC decided to conduct Peachtree registration online, the entire system crashed. Feeling such a sense of outrage, I wanted to ensure others were equally as miserable as me (misery loves company). Â Twitter quickly confirmed that the entire Atlanta online community was experiencing the same problem as me with the debacle of a registration. Â But in that situation I actively searched for others to validate that it wasn’t only me having the problem. Â Tonight, through the Twitter reply from another member of the audience, the crowd found me.
Perhaps checking to see what the twits are saying will become a part of every big event for me in the future.
