Finding Value in 30,000 Tweets

I originally published this post on Technorati, but felt the urge to share it with you here as well. Thanks for reading.

Today I will reach my 30,000th tweet.

Or I might have already, depending on when this is published. It's been a long and winding journey and my 30,000 some tweets so far tell a number of stories, but primarily that of myself, a young professional making my way through college, traveling the world, and working towards career success (with a little luck).

I started it all on July 20, 2007, sitting in a cramped little apartment outside of Tokyo, Japan, where I was staying for six weeks as part of a cultural exchange scholarship program. I signed up not knowing what this little micro-blogging service called Twitter was, and with no possible idea where it would take me over the course of the past three or so years.

As I tweeted out my excitement about hitting 30,000 tweets this morning, a follower asked me, "How many were of value?" That got me thinking. How many of these little 140 character messages really provided value to anyone? What have I accomplished in my 30,000 tweets, my approximate 4,200,000 characters, those 50,000-some-odd words?

To me, all of them provided value, and I've accomplished more than I ever dreamed I would with a social network.

With social media there's a constant struggle between quantity and quality. Do you want to be the one who's always present, always first on the news, and with the highest stats and metrics? Or do you want to be the one with the highest quality, who provides intense value in a small number of tweets, updates, or blog posts?

I think that depends on your goals, and I don't think there's any rule saying you can't have both, as long as you balance it right and engage with those around you–it is a social network, after all, not a wire service.

For me, my 30,000 tweets have taken me around the world, transformed my relationships, integrated me into the city I live in, and propelled me on a career path I never would have expected even two years ago.

With those 30,000 tweets I've made thousands of friends and I've shared countless lessons. I've shared my joy during the 2008 presidential election, participated from afar in the attempted Iranian revolution, shared my experiences protesting for action to solve climate change in Copenhagen, and enjoyed the calmer moments in life with thousands upon thousands of both digital and real-life friends.

After those 30,000 tweets I can now look at how I've evolved on social media. I can look at my activity from a personal and a professional perspective–as a student, marketer, communicator, citizen journalist, activist and more. And taking a step back and looking at those 30,000 tweets, I see that I've created incredible value for myself, and I hope I've created value for those that follow me and those I've gotten to know through this remarkable social network. Here's to 30,000 more.