Cabbie's tweet reunites lost BlackBerry with owner http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10323261-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Some believe that Twitter has the power to change big events like Iranian elections. I think that its strength may be in much smaller, but still significant, ways. In fact, I was the matchmaker recently between a Barcelona cabbie and an American employee of a pharmaceutical company. Well, a matchmaker between the cabbie and this lady's BlackBerry, anyway. It happened like this: I have a Twitter search in TweetDeck that alerts me every time the word "Asay" is used on Twitter. (I need to be able to track down libel somehow!) On August 30, I saw this tweet: Hi! I'm a taxi driver from Barcelona. Somebody knows Jennifer Asay? She works for (pharmaceutical company). I've her Balckberry [sic]. I happen to be married to a Jennifer Asay, but not this one. So I looked up her name on the Web and quickly found her on LinkedIn. I reached out to her there to give her the e-mail address of the taxi driver, which he provided in his tweet. I also replied to him to give him her e-mail address. No big deal, right? On Wednesday, I heard back from Raúl, the taxi driver: Hi! I am the taxidriver from Barcelona. She has found me thanks to you. I will be with her for I will give back its telephone. Thank you very much by your work. Raúl Nice, right? It gets better. Today, I heard from Jennifer, and it sounds like everything worked out, thanks to the power of Twitter (and LinkedIn): I can't tell you how grateful I am that you reached out to me....by a miracle, Raúl brought me my BlackBerry today! What are the odds? In our increasingly networked world, the odds are getting shorter all the time. Again, it's a simple story, but one rich in possibilities too. Think about it. A twittering taxi driver reaches out to the massive echo chamber that is the Web and is heard by a complete stranger in Utah who also uses Twitter (me), who then turns to LinkedIn to find the sought-for person and connects them over e-mail. There are lots of problems in the world. Communication--at least the possibility of communication--isn't one of them. P.S. There's a very good chance that I've now ruined Jennifer's life by getting her back in touch with her BlackBerry addiction, but I want this story to have a happy ending. *********************************** * POST TO MEDIANEWS@ETSKYWARN.NET * *********************************** Medianews mailing list Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
