A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a “town” varies considerably in different parts of the world, but no matter what you call it, to me town is synonymous with community.

I grew up in Shelburne, Vermont for my first 18 years.  When I left for the University of Michigan in 1996, it was a town of 5,000.  Even after attending a University where my freshman class was larger than my hometown and spending 10 years in the city of Chicago, I still pride myself on having a small-town spirit, in which knowing your neighbors makes a difference and being a contributing member of the community counts.   Today, my Twitter following has hit 5,000.  It is crazy to visualize a sphere of influence that encompasses every member of my childhood hometown!

As a social media consultant and marketing professional, I wholeheartedly believe that it is the quality of relationships, not the number of followers that matter and one of the greatest features of social media platforms is that it levels the communications playing field, and one-one-one engagement matters! While I can honestly say I do not have the capacity to engage with each of my 5,000 followers everyday, I have interacted with many at one point in time and I have done this the old fashioned way – building relationships and  connecting with people with similar interests, who have attended the same events as I have and whom I would like to get to know better.

Similar to building relationships offline, it is important for your to get to know the members of your community.  Be proactive and help people get to know you by taking the time to complete your 160 character Twitter bio, and include a link for people to learn more about you in your profile by a linking to either your website or your LinkedIn profile.  The relationship building goes both ways, and  it is also key to make sure you know something about those who follow you and the information you get from a bio opens the door for dialogue and that is what your community is all about!

The best way to contribute to Twitter is to actively participate, and doing so will result in an increased follower count, and more substantial relationships over time.  Venture out of the “voyeur” mentality and share with your community – greet people with good cheer, share industry specific information to position yourself as a thought leader, call upon your community to help you when have questions, and be the one to answer a question when you have expertise to lend.  Connecting with your target audience and fostering quality relationships take time, but the rewards will be reaped for a long time to come.

Have you sought out your Twitter community yet?  There are numerous Twitter applications and resources available to search for people to follow.

Some of the top Twitter search tools include:

1. Twitter Search is the only search function actually hosted by Twitter. It’s easy to use and offers comprehensive results, check out Advanced Search to dig a bit deeper.
2. Be sure to add yourself and search for others by using We Follow, a user powered twitter directory that ranks Twitter users based on the number of followers and allows you to search for “most influential” users by category, location and subject matter.
3. TwitDir lists top Tweeters as measured by various criteria such as those who follow the most, who are followed the most, update the most, etc.
4. Want to get to know a follower better? Check out their Klout to measure their online influence.
5. If you want to stay close to home, check out TwitterLocal,  a great place for customers to connect to local businesses by combining the power of Local Search and Google Maps with the popularity of Twitter.

Don’t forget to include a “follow me on Twitter” signature on all of your email accounts and invite connections on other social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn to join you in conversation on Twitter too!

Do  have additional information and/or resources to share about community building on Twitter? Please include your favorite tools in the comment section below, and don’t forget to leave your Twitter name in the comment so we can follow you!

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I wish I had time for a full post telling you how much fun I am having live tweeting for North Coast Festival, but I am too busy tweeting, and running around the fest getting you the best shots of the talent and the crowd (and usually looking for outlets to constantly recharge my iPhone).

Here is a quick preview of what I’ve been up too, and I promise more to come (but maybe on Monday or Tuesday!) Most importantly, follow along with my live tweets at www.twitter.com/NorthCoastFest.

By the TweetStats numbers:

By the #'s ... over 100 tweets yesterday alone!

But thats not as exciting as … these numbers, the number of fans!

Crowd at the Coast Stage, from ON stage at Moby!

Some other highlights… without combing through over 600+ pictures on the 3 cameras I’ve been toting around this weekend …

Chicago flag & Chicago crowd for Chicago's own Umphrey's MeGee!

And I got up close & personal with my buddy Plug Won from De La Soul, minutes before they took the stage!

De La Soul's Plug Won and interactiveAmy backstage at North Coast Fest! I willed this pic to happen!

Amazingly, I found my hubby and my friends… and there happened to be a photo booth nearby! Thanks to the Roving Festival Writer (brilliant idea to bring a photo booth to shows, and totally wish I’d thought of this!) So fun to meet these guys after setting up their press credentials and emailing with them for the past few weeks!

Thanks to the Roving Festival Writer, someone took a pic of me with my friends, I've been on the wrong side of the lens!

And lastly, the first official North Coast Fest Tweet Up was a huge success! We had over 30 people come meet us underneath the Chicago Reader Living Gallery (read: huge rainbow tent in the middle of the festival field at 6pm on Saturday!! Thank you all for coming!

North Coast Festival Tweet Up

Ok, not last! I’ve been tweeting every spare second I have… and people are noticing! It’s been super fun for me, and I’ve tried to think about what festival fans want to see from the official twitter stream, so my plan is to share the pictures and the love with those that can’t be here, and I’m also trying to soak it all in, we’ve worked so hard on every aspect of this festival for months and it is so rewarding to see it come to life! So needless to say I was super happy to see this feedback this morning… it will keep me going strong for day three of North Coast Fest!

Praise for @NorthCoastFest twitter stream!

Personalization is what twitter is all about! @NorthCoastFest gets that!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading the tweets and tweeting with me/us, and for coming to the inaugural North Coast Music Festival! See you in a few hours for day three, gotta rest my thumbs!

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Thank you for being my twitter friend!

I am not a numbers gal when it comes to measuring the quality of relationships because every person matters and every relationship is important to me, but catching the moment I hit 4,000 twitter followers was a trip!

That’s almost as many people as there were growing up in Shelburne, Vermont.  In the years since I’ve been gone from my hometown, Shelburne has grown but that still quite a measuring stick!

I am looking forward to more interaction with each and every one of you!

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It sure does pay to be a fan of Garrett Popcorn.

I am pleased to announce that starting today, I will be guest tweeting for a Chicago institution, Garrett Popcorn through February 1st, under the One Gallon Tin avatar.

InteractiveAmy as a One Gallon Tin!

My first day of tweeting comes on #FollowFriday, and Garrett gets upwards of 300 tweets per day!

What do you think, can I keep up?

Follow my Garrett Popcorn Twitter adventures or better yet, sign up for twitter and join in the fun!  See you on Facebook too!

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Where there is popcorn, there are people!

After a Michigan Avenue construction project forced Garrett Popcorn to close its doors, they have finally reopened at 625 N. Michigan Ave (entrance is on Ontario), in time to celebrate their 60th Anniversary!

I had the pleasure of live-tweeting the event hoopla and sharing the festivities with Garrett’s fans!  Tweets containing the hashtag #GPSMA (Garrett Popcorn Shops Michigan Avenue) have been compiled – so get comfy, grab some popcorn and see all of the buzz for yourselves!

Garrett Popcorn provided free bags of caramel-cheese mix to celebrate the re-opening Thursday October 15th, from 10am to noon.  People were in line at 8:30 am to greet the Garrett team with clapping and cheers as the doors swung open!  The media was there, popcorn lovers of all ages came out… and so were the raindrops. Luckily, in addition to popcorn, Garrett also provided ponchos!

Check out the Fox Chicago coverage of the opening festivities, it will leave your mouth watering!

How does Traffic Management and the Chicago Police feel about Garrett Popcorn? You can view my Garrett Grand Opening photo stream to see all of the smiles on the Mag Mile!

So, are you a little salty that you missed the celebration? Do you think I am super cheesy? Have you ever had Garrett Popcorn induced orange fingers?

60 years as a Chicago institution means there are 60 years worth of Garrett Popcorn stories to share! What are your favorite Garrett Popcorn memories!?

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