Last Minute Christmas Gift

This morning, I had to go downtown to pick up a couple of things.  It was an absolute mess.  Everyone who had a car was out on the roads driving them and I think that all of their passengers were in the same shops that I was.  Nuts.  I suspect that Sunday and Monday may be even worse.

My sympathies for those of you who still are on the lookout for that perfect Christmas gift.

Earlier that morning, I had the morning news on the television and a story popped up.  My daughter was amazed and I’ll never forget her quote “I didn’t know that.  Are you sure?  It wasn’t on Twitter.  If it happened, it’s on Twitter”.

Now, this comes from someone who made fun of me when I had originally explained the concept to her.  Today, she’s a mobile Twitter freak although she hangs out in different areas than me.  Things like La Leche and Doulaing.  BTW, if you need the name of a good Doula, I’ll pass your name along.

As I was stuck in traffic, I was thinking about how the importance of the connections are to me and to her.  I figured that there had to be a great Christmas Gift in there.  I also started to think of every Christmas gift cliché that I could.  Things like:

• Give the Gift of Learning;
• It’s not your presents; it’s your presence;
• The gift that keeps on giving;
• It’s the thought that counts.

Stop.  That’s enough…time to complete that left turn!

However, the clichés did give me the idea for great gifts – last-minute and free.  Why not turn someone in your family on to Twitter at whatever level of interest they have?  Those of us who are big fans know that the traditional route is to “give a few good people to follow”.  That’s really time-consuming and tedious to get folks up to speed.  There’s a quicker way – give them some lists to follow.

Show them how to create their own account and then get at it.

For me, it’s a non-brainer for educators.  Follow the two Ontario Educators lists in my account.

• https://twitter.com/dougpete/ontario-educators
• https://twitter.com/dougpete/ontario-educators-2
  

I have these two lists on the front page of my Hootsuite Twitter client.  Always in plain view and a never ending source of inspiration.

For the non-educators, perhaps some other alternatives.

• Andy Carvin – People tweeting about uprisings in the middle east – https://twitter.com/nprnews/egypt2011
• Joe Cairo – Celebs…..famous, infamous, and not so much – https://twitter.com/MCJoeCairo/celebrities
• The Next Web – The 25 Most Influential People Tweeting About Apple – https://twitter.com/TheNextWeb/apple-top-25
• Comedy Network – Comedy Network Comedians – https://twitter.com/comedynetwork/comedy-network-comedians
• Zagat – Food Bloggers – https://twitter.com/Zagat/food-bloggers

How’s that for a start?  Show them how to get started, follow a list or two or more of their favourite interests and you’ll have them hooked on learning for life!  As we know, the inspiration from Twitter never ends.

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