Yesterday, I started this blog. 
Boy, I did not expect that level of response. In less than 24 hours, almost 500 hits, over 20 very thoughtful comments and countless tweets & retweets. I’m new to blogging but will assume it’s OK to take a post to say THANKS to all of you who have taken the time to read and share thoughts. I really appreciate it (yes, Dan, even you.)
Most of all, I want to recognize the amazing value of having a tight tribe, who supports my efforts as a “blogger white belt”.
I’m talking about my friends in #usguys.
For readers who just stumbled upon this post by accident, or are still puzzled by the #usguys Twitter hashtag, here’s what you missed.
About a month ago, @pprothe, @galactic, @mikulaja, @realchaseadams and myself (@tommoradpour) were passionately debating the Gap “logo-gate” on Twitter. At some point, we realized that our Twitter handles were taking almost half of the 140 allowed characters… and so we decided to create our own hashtag as a clever work-around: #usguys was born. As our conversations continued, we were promptly joined by others. And others. And more.
Faster than it takes to say “twitanalyzer”, #usguys had become a 24/7 live Twitter chat with close to 1,000 tweets per day on topics ranging from marketing, social media, innovation… to just plain fun! Check out Chase’s post for his side of the story 
#usguys feels like it has a lot of potential and I have no idea where it will take us. But I think it went from 5 to 350 members in a few weeks because:
- it’s a place for people who want to “engage” on Twitter, not “broadcast”… Use of the hashtag is really meant as an invitation for the group to respond,
- … with a real spirit of openness and inclusion; as we welcome anyone who wants to jump in with a positive mindset, #usguys levels the playing field between social media beginners and heavy-weights. It doesn’t matter if you have 12 followers or 120,000 (and to be clear, #usguys is not “for guys”, it’s just a name,)
- … and high responsiveness; stats show that 71% of all tweets are ignored – not in #usguys! We have a strict “no tweet un-answered” policy so you won’t feel like you’re wasting your time.
Yesterday, I discovered this policy extended to first blog posts, and I’m really glad and grateful.
Even if @solete and @realchaseadams joked that I should not get too excited about my numbers, since they respectively read my posts 200 and 75 times. I don’t know if that part is true. But I know that the stronger ties with this small group had disproportionately more impact on my blog’s debut, than any of my other 1,000 Twitter ‘followers’.
So take this advice from a Twitter & blogging beginner – find your tribe and engage deeply.
Or join ours!
PS – I’d like to put it on record that this makes me a bit nervous about what’s next for my blog. I simply hope I don’t let you down. Yesterday night, my good #usguys friend Anne (@solete) suggested I should keep the pace and write two posts per day. Hum… sorry, Anne, that’s not gonna happen.
Well, except today ;-)!