Someone asked the other day … are you always on Twitter?  Hmmm … yes, I guess I’m on Twitter quite a bit.  Twitter allows me to interact with so many friends/followers in different ways.  Being on Twitter has taught me how to move my new friendships up the Twitter Relationship Stairway.  In keeping with the idea of moving up the stairs, I wanted to share with my community an opportunity to take our relationships a step further.  Being on Twitter is an excellent way to listen, learn, participate, make friends, bond and share incredible insight. And, as I review my calendar in the upcoming months, one more excellent way to move up the Twitter stairway is to meet my New York City friends/followers in person.

Here’s the opportunity: I’m going to be at two conferences in New York City, one in May and the other June.  Both are very different opportunities with friends.  The first is PRSA’s Digital Impact Conference on May 6^th and then the PRSA T3 Conference on June 11^th.  Here’s why each conference has the potential for a unique experience with my friends, and an opportunity to move up the Twitter stairway.

Digital Impact:  I’ll be at Digital Impact presenting on the topic “How to Create a Social Media Plan.”  My mind will be focused on helping people to develop strategy before tactics, and even how to “fix” what you’ve done before you take a new approach with different programs moving forward.  I’ll also discuss developing business goals and objectives, research initiatives, messaging and content creation, distribution channels, conversation monitoring and performance measures.  Here’s the opportunity, I’m at the conference to help people.  I remember when I was at the PRIA conference in Australia. After my keynote session I sat at the book signing table, but it was so much more than just signing books. I talked to each and every person who stopped by to visit with me.  It was an incredible experience.  Not only did I make new friends, but also was able to answer questions, offer insight on their projects and really get to know people.  Can this be done on Twitter?  Yes and no… yes until the conversations become in-depth and then you must move them into another form of communication beyond 140 characters.  In person, face-to-face is the best, when you’re able to shake hands and feel like you’ve made a great connection.

PRSA T3 Conference:  This is a unique opportunity for me. I’m the co-chair of the conference along with Rich Teplitsky and will devote my day to T3, and all of the conference attendees.  I can’t remember the last time I was at a conference for the all of the sessions, without running out the door to go to another event or leaving early to travel or get back to my office. It’s a fantastic opportunity for me to meet people, network and move relationships a step further. T3 will allow me to practice what I preach.

I’m also very excited to see @PRsarahevens and to hear her keynote presentation.  I participate frequently on #journchat, but it’s a different experience than hearing Sarah discuss what’s next in PR, strategy and technology and to engage with her in person.  I’m also going to meet Christine Perkett (@missusP) for the first time in person. She was one of our special guests for a #PRstudchat session, and of course, she was wonderful.  I’m a huge fan of Christine and looking forward to learning a great deal from her session, “Driving your Online Footprint: PR Experts as Influencers.”  Jacob Morgan (@jacobm) is another person I’m really looking forward to meeting for the first time. I read Jacob’s book, TwittFaced, and have been recommending the book ever since. It’s about time that we finally meet in person!  And, then there’s Justin Levy (@justinlevy), Director of Business Development, Corporate Strategy & Client Services at Facebook Marketing: Designing your Next Marketing Campaign.”  I’m looking forward to seeing Justin again and reading and reviewing his book on my blog. Of course, I could go down the list of all of the other speakers and people that I know who want to attend the conference, but then this blog post would be too long!

So, now I need to ask you a question … how are you moving up the Twitter Staircase and are you taking your relationships to the next level? And, if you are in NYC, is there an opportunity for us to meet at either Digital Impact or the T3 Conference.  I hope so, because meeting in person is the best way to take a relationship to the next level.  Hope to see you over the next couple of months.

I’ve heard a lot of great feedback about the #PRStudChat January session, which celebrated the PR educator.  We had @mikinzie as our special guest moderator and her preparation, passion and enthusiasm really added to the success of our Twitter discussion.  Personally, this was one of my favorite sessions for a number of reasons: the knowledge, information, insight and sheer appreciation of the educator, as demonstrated by our entire community.  @valeriesimon and I also tried something a little different at the end of our discussion…we gave everyone a  homework assignment in preparation of the next session, which is scheduled for February 17^th.  And, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day (how apropos), we asked our #PRStudChat community to:

“Reach out to 1 person you met today. Connect. Introduce your new friend at the 2/17 #PRStudChat.”

After I tweeted out the homework, I Immediately I saw the community embracing the assignment with tweets including:

Mikinzie: Starting this wkend! RT @PRStudChat: Have you started your #PRStudChat Homework? Who did you meet at the chat that you want to know better?

RLBriones: @bitty_boop Would love to connect – you had a lot of great things to say in today’s #PRStudChat! Also just read the blog post – great stuff!

bitty_boop: Does anyone want to connect as part of our ‘homework?’ I’d love to meet someone new. #prstudchat

hhitchen31: who wants to get started on our #prstudchat homework?

Then within a couple of days, I received a tweet:

MogulMark @dbreakenridge I think I need to get to know you better for the #PRStudChat homework. I was confused, thought it was some1′s class assgnmnt!

This easy assignment may lead to what could be the start of a mutually beneficial relationship.  I just wrote a post on my blog about the Relationship Stairway, which closely relates to this homework assignment.  The directive to reach out to one person and to connect and introduce yourself is similar to the position you take on the bottom of the Relationship Stairway (the Casual friend).  There is the potential to move up to the next level of friendship, beyond the casual conversation, when you are invited to learn about someone new.  In this particular instance, because the assignment is amongst people within the same community (sharing common interests) the chances of raising a lever or two are far greater.

Through this exercise, you have a simple decision to make.  Do you just find someone, say “hello” and learn more to merely complete an assignment or do you truly try to engage with this person to move up the stairway to the Giver and Taker Relationship?  Every time you have an interaction, even from the simplest hello on Twitter (or maybe it’s a poke on Facebook), you can turn the interaction into something more beneficial for both parties.  Here’s where the sociology and psychology of interactions come into play.  What is it about a person we meet that makes us want to learn more, and become even more a part of their community.  Is it a sense of interest? Is it a feeling of connection and like-mindedness?  Do we feel comfortable and share similar views and behaviors?  .

We’ll be discussing types of relationships, personal and professional interactions, behavior in communities and the value they bring to our online experiences.  Get ready to share some of your favorite relationships stories from the simple interaction to the in-depth friendships and to meet some very special relationship experts!  We look forward to exploring the value of meaningful relationships in our #PRStudChat community!

The year 2009 was a year of “all things” Twitter. I expect more of the same excitement, use and value in 2010. You can do a simple search on Google and pull up approximately 1.2 billion entries on Twitter or you can go to one of your favorite blogs and search for Twitter posts to reveal numerous articles (I found over 400 posts on Twitter when I searched on Brian Solis’ blog).  There is definitely a fascination with micromedia and this particular network.  I must be fascinated too, as I seem to be using it as one of my main sources of communication these days.  Will another type of network launch and fascinate me…sure, but for now, I think there’s a lot of opportunity for relationship building on Twitter.

Because I have my TweetDeck open all day and I’m constantly checking to see what’s going on in my community, I thought it would be interesting to categorize my fascination into what I experience in terms of friendship.  For me friendship is carved into a few types of relationships.  I’m sure there are more types and I’ll leave that up to you to add in your own levels. My levels of friendship appear to fall in five buckets: Casual Friend, Taker with Good Info, The Giver, The Give and Take Friendship and then the Trusted Confidante.  Each level of relationship building on Twitter has potential to move up a level and provide more value from your engagement.

You can even visualize these buckets as a Relationship Stairway (which we should all want to climb) because at the top of the stairs we are rewarded with an experience or our ultimate engagement (whatever that means to us either personally or professionally…what are your Twitter goals).  Let’s define the steps and the behavior as we climb the stairwell:

The Casual Friend: Don’t underestimate your casual friend on Twitter.  This person may be the friend who gives you a quick “Good Morning” with a smiley face, or a comment about their day.  You could chat about the weather or something that you share in common (perhaps a great cup of coffee or expresso).  You can learn quickly the person’s location, their general mood and get a brief glimpse into their perspective.  When you get the quick good morning, there’s an opportunity to turn it into an everyday conversation, whether your dialogue occurs at certain times of the day (morning, noon or night).  Look at your casual friend’s profile, check out their tweet stream, and make a quick visit to their blog or website.  Finding out who they are and what they do can lead to new opportunities. I’ve had casual conversations turn into dynamic conversations, where I learn new tips, tools and information.  Casual conversations can also equate to bigger opportunities including interviews, great blog posts and overall really good information that could only come from a simple “Good Morning” on Twitter.

The Taker with Good Info: First and foremost, the word “Taker” is not negative. On the contrary this is an important friend! I’ve noticed on several occasions that my casual friends often turn into those who begin to share information with me, in hope that I will discuss it further with my community.  They will frequently ask me to review their blog posts, articles in the media, news releases, product launches, ideas for projects, and even research for thesis writing (the Take part).  But, these friends help me when they ask for my assistance in reviewing and discussing their information with my community. I’m more than happy to share their information and material because, if the information is really good, then I know my own friends and followers will find tremendous value.  I welcome these friends, but in order get to the next step, this relationship must become more reciprocal; both parties would then be asking reciprocal friendship favors by giving and taking information for their networks.

The Giver: The Giver is a special friend. This person doesn’t ask anything of you, they simply find you interesting and naturally want to share your information with their friends.  The Giver could also be the friend who follows your blog and when they find valuable information in one of your posts they automatically share it with their network.  Other examples of the The Giver include: the person who frequently retweets things that you say and the articles you share, they mention you on #followfriday and they listen carefully to your conversations because they like to interact with you.  When you have a Giver as a friend you need to find ways to move this relationship to the next step and become a reciprocal friend.  Meaning and value to both parties may lie ahead.

The Giver and Taker Friendship: This is the level of friendship where the relationship becomes equally balanced and both sides feel a great deal of benefit.  For me, after I share the information from my friend “The Taker with Good Info” I notice that this person suddenly is tuned into what I’m doing within my community and will take the time to then share my blog posts, comment in my community, retweet information (so their friends can see what I’m doing), join other initiatives that I’m involved in where dynamic discussion continue, introduce me to other people who they think I will find interesting, and start to make really good connections for me (and I do the same for them).  These are also the people who become my friends in other networks and the give and take is natural and reaches an entirely different plateau.  Best of all, from these reciprocal relationships, I’ve been introduced to new business opportunities. These friends have the potential of becoming your Trusted Confidantes.

The Trusted Confidante: At the top of the stairway is someone who you will trust with sacred information.  Together you can safely bounce around new ideas, share concepts, learn more about yourself, receive positive feedback as well as criticism, create innovation, share personal information, and the help and the trust is always balanced and appreciated.  You are not only using DM with these friends on a daily basis, but you are now emailing back and forth, on IM or a Google Wave.   Then, suddenly, your friendship morphs from virtual to the physical reality.  You continue your conversations at events and conferences that you both attend or you are having meetups every chance you get.  Of course some friends are on the other side of the country or the world, so the telephone or Skype works too.  The sky is the limit with your these friends.  They have your best interest at heart, as you have theirs.  This is your trusted advisory board on topics and information that you couldn’t find as easily or as readily available, if it didn’t stem from a Twitter conversation.

When you visualize your own Relationship Stairway, you can ask yourself:

• How do you think your Twitter friends view you on the stairway?
• Have you taken the initiative to climb the steps a little higher with some or most of your Twitter friends?
• How do you figure out which friends you want to move up the steps quickly, and have you analyzed your Twitter friends lately?

I welcome feedback on the Relationship Stairway and feel free to add in more stairs to my staircase!