I love the concept of virtual street cred! Twitter has proven to be an amazing tool for facilitating connections,and a terrific filter for sorting out those who are genuine, smart, funny, sassy — in a word, themselves — and those who are not. It’s in what we tweet, how we interact online, how we react to others, and when we interject ourselves into a conversation. It’s a great window for getting a sense of someone.

Of course, as you, Amber, Beth, and others have so aptly defined, these interactions help to build the trust that we can then nurture into friendships that may start online but quickly expand out into the “real” world.

Best,
Daria

Like many of you, I’ve gone through an interesting transformation by using Twitter. If you had told me five years ago that I would be sharing hundreds of 140 character posts about everything from my intellectual interests to my personal activities to my political views I definitely would have told you that was madness.

What I found is that the more I share, the more I find my ‘tribe’ (to steal a term from @pistachio) and the more I’ve found my own voice – the more I realize I have a unique point of view that is useful to others. That’s really satisfaction enough but it has also led to finding work and a career path that is slowly converging more and more with my values and interests. That is an amazing thing.

And I’ve met you!

Rachel

I just cannot keep thinking that Twitter will never be that important for Europeans. After reading a related post on Mashable, my thoughts have been strengthened

http://mashable.com/2009/01/19/european-companies-twitter/

Twitter for me has really accelerated the trust curve. What I mean by that: before Twitter, it would take a handful of emails and probably a phone call or an in-person exchange to have that feeling of “conversation” that helps establish familiarity and trust with someone.

Now, Twitter has accelerated how fast and how immediately that conversation can happen, so that trust can be built in a matter of hours or days instead of weeks or months.

On a personal level, because of its one-to-many nature, you can put out a query or statement on Twitter, reaching out, and suddenly you’ve got dozens of people responding to you for help or support or solidarity. Nothing establishes trust faster than having someone say to you – even on Twitter – “I hear you, and I’m on your side.”

Amazing tool and community, isn’t it? And HEY! I found YOU there, which was a triumph indeed.

Best,
Amber