blog | Who do/would you like to know on twitter?

Who do/would you like to know on twitter?

Tuesday May 05 2009

I was thinking lately about twitter and how valuable it is to me as a web developer. I heard about twitter when it first came out, but thought it was stupid and just didn’t get it despite twitter being very popular with teachers who blog (my current day job). However when I made the decision to go into web development full time I tried it again as a way to connect with other web professionals. Living in South Korea it is very difficult to find other English speaking web people and I really do thrive on connecting with people in my industry. Anyhow this time around I really got it, started following several ExpressionEngine developers as well as other big names such as @Shaun Inman, @Eric Meyer, @Paul Boag and @Jonathan Snook However I didn’t get real value from following the big names—though I do still follow most of them.

The people I got the most value from are other ExpressionEngine developers and Tweeters with a smaller following. This post is devoted to those people. You are the people I would really love to meet in person.

First I’m goint to mention the people I have met from twitter, which aren’t many. I met @Gord Sellar a few years ago at a expat Korean blogger meet up. He’s a great guy and I wish I had more opportunities to hook up with him. @Dave Jansen is a Dutch web developer and php programmer who moved to Korea to be with his girlfriend and is an all around great guy. Dave also did the graphic design on EE Forums 4you Next is @peacecheese He doesn’t have his real name on his twitter profile so I’m respecting his privacy. Peacechese has been in Korea longer than I have (a rarity) and is a great guy to chat with. Finally I’ve also met Daniel Craig—not James Bond, but another long time expat in Korea.

Next the people from twitter I would most like to meet and the reasons why. If you don’t get mentioned don’t be disappointed, that doesn’t mean I don’t value you, just that these people are most interesting to me.

Number one on the list has to be @Leslie Camacho who just happens to be the President of ExpressionEngine. Leslie is incredilby friendly and helpful and I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with him on The EE forums, email and twitter. It’s not every day that the president (though not at that time) of the best CMS on the planet does a video blog directed at you in response to a thread were I was asking about how to transition to web development. When I get the chance to meet Leslie I plan to take him out for the best dinner and beers he’s ever had.

Number two is @Andy Harris who went way above and beyond for me on both twitter and the EE forums when I first started out. Andy provided so much help for me that I was compelled to thank him by posting a gift to him in England where he lives. Andy also deserves some beers from me when/if we get a chance to meet.

Tied for third place are @Steven Hambo, @Micheal Boyink, and @Chad Crowell Steven, Micheal and Chad are all very helpful tweeters as well as interesting people. I’ve also had the pleasure of doing some outsource work for both Chad and Steven and will hopefully be able to do so in the future. I’m still debating on whether to move back to Canada or move to Australia (and possibly immigrate)—If I do make it to Australia, I am definitely planning on meeting Steven.

I also find following @Marcus Neto interesting—he really knows his stuff and also links to photography on occaision which I find interesting. @Mark Bowen has got to be one of the most prolific posters on the EE forums and is also a helpful guy on twitter. Bonus he flies helicopters—how cool is that. @Emily Lewis is just interesting and is passionate about microformats—something I still don’t fully get but find interesting to read on her blog.

Finally I would really really like to meet @Reese Spykerman and @John fuller who are also like myself expats living in Asian countries. Reese is in Malaysia and John is in The Philippines. Both of them are interesting to follow and I’d like to sit down with them and talk about expat life and running a small business abroad.

Anyhow these are the people on twitter that I would most like to meet in person. This post is not meant to be a popularity contest it’s here to make a big public thank you to those on twitter that have been incredibly helpful (and interesting) to me. Alternatively, you could consider it the ultimate #followfriday list.

Who do you want to meet and why? Who have you met?

Sean inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday May 5, 2009 at 05:47 PM

| tags: twitter, |

Comments

gexla wrote 186 words on Tuesday May 5, 2009 at 08:14 PM

Of course, one of the problems with living in Asia is that we are relatively isolated, though I’m actually pretty close to Australia which is home to a lot of great EE developers. I would love to talk to you and Reese. Maybe we should have an Asian expat EE meetup. Reese needs to do visa runs every three months anyways.

I haven’t met any EE developers. Even in the U.S. I was relatively isolated because I lived in Montana and didn’t attend any conferences.

Because we largely run in the same circles, my list would look a lot like yours. I think I would most like to start with the team at Ellislab.

I agree about not getting much value out of following the big guys. The most helpful is following fellow EE developers doing the same thing I am. It’s also very helpful to setup Twitter feeds on search terms such as ExpressionEngine because I can find more people I have never connected with and get an idea of what is big news (some things get a lot of retweets.)

Thanks for the mention!

Sean wrote 70 words on Tuesday May 5, 2009 at 08:26 PM

John,
Yeah I have a search for ExpressionEngine and EE set up in tweetdeck and get some good info there. Have helped out some EE newbs as well.

An Asian meet-up would be great, but I think pretty difficult to coordinate en masse - though doing individual one on ones should be feasible. Didn’t know Reese had to do Visa runs, perhaps she will make one to Korea one day.

gexla wrote 39 words on Tuesday May 5, 2009 at 08:40 PM

Hehe, just you, Reese and myself would be cool for me.

We are going to have a hard time convincing people we live in Korea and the Philippines when our IP to nation flag shows we are from China.

reese wrote 39 words on Wednesday May 6, 2009 at 01:40 AM

Considering you’re posting from China, John, I’m amazed you were even able to access Sean’s site

An asian meet up would be sweet. We could totally bring EE to this region. It needs it! Thanks for the mention, Sean

Marshall aka Grantmx wrote 19 words on Wednesday May 6, 2009 at 06:03 AM

Hey Sean - Don’t act like I haven’t helped you on the EE forums. Where’s my gift? Just kidding…LOL!

Marcus Neto wrote 35 words on Wednesday May 6, 2009 at 07:30 AM

yeay! I made the list! thanks Sean. If you get a chance to come to sxsw next year or something we need to hook up and have a couple of drinks. You rock dude!

Sean wrote 113 words on Wednesday May 6, 2009 at 09:06 AM

John,
Yeah I noticed the error with ip to nation - hopefully that will be fixed when I upgrade EE to 1.6.7

Reese,
agreed - I know there are a few EE developers in Japan and at least 1 more in Korea since there is a Korean langauge pack (outdated)

Marshall,
Absolutely you’ve given me lots of good help on the forums and on twitter as well. Really I could extend this post easily by another 20 people. Your help is of course appreciated.

Marcus,
If I move to Canada instead of Australia I will definitely be going to at least one SXSW conference and would love to have a drink with you.

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