A Personal Use Case for Twitter (and even Facebook)

June 27, 2008

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Baltimore / Washington D.C. area.   I visited with a client for one day and then had a weekend with my oldest son Will for an event he was attending.  As usual I was running late to get out of the house and get to the airport.  How I miss the days where you could walk up ten minutes before the flight. 

At the last minute I checked my tickets and realized that I was going to the Humphrey Terminal.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Minneapolis Airport there are two different terminals; not gates, but actual different terminals.  Having never been to the Humphrey Terminal I was starting to stress more.  I put out a call for help on Twitter.

Within 15 minutes I had several answers from folks on Twitter who told me to relax and enjoy, that Humphrey was less crowded, shorter lines, and a nice coffee shop to boot (Dunn Bros I love you!)  I could then relax and take my time. 

Similarly that morning I sent a Facebook message to someone I never met face-to-face but worked with at my last job.  I knew he was from the Baltimore area and I asked him for advice.  He hooked me up fantastically.  By the time I landed at BWI, I had my choice of restaurants and a couple ‘I’m only here for a little bit where can I visit’ sites. 

During the trip my son and I went to Camden Yards to catch a game, but mainly to experience the stadium.  From my twittering about that I had a great conversation with some guys on Twitter about baseball.

Could I have done the research on the web in order to find out about the Humphrey Terminal, places to go in Baltimore, and forums to talk baseball?  Of course I could.  But using the community got me the answers more quickly, and with a level of trust that my own research wouldn’t have been able to provide. 

Coming tomorrow, my review of Baltimore and D.C.

Posted in Social Media