Today I reached a personal Twitter milestone with my 10,000th tweet. It seemed appropriate that it should come after my most intense week of social media mayhem since SXSWi last March.
Like many who attended PodCamp Montreal this past weekend, I am experiencing a bit of a social media hangover. For me, it's not alcohol-induced. Instead, it's the feeling of letdown that comes after the headiness of meeting so many like-minded people in one place. Maybe I'd already met some people online through Twitter, Phreadz or Seesmic. Maybe I'd just met them at the event for the very first time. Either way, the experience of finding so many creative, articulate, funny and technically savvy people in one place was intoxicating.
One thing that is helping me with my social media hangover are the avatars being sported by my new American PodCamp friends who are positively giddy over the Quebec 24-hour convenience store chain, Couche-Tard, which means "night owl". This store became a middle of the night beacon for party supply runs and now is a symbol the good times that were had at PodCamp Montreal, complete with memories of terribly pronounced French. The avatars are even starting to spread to Canadians who were at PodCamp Montreal.
So, when I pondered what to Tweet for my 10,000th update, I realized that I wouldn't have met *any* of these wonderful people without Twitter. I wouldn't have had the business opportunities that I've had in the past year. I wouldn't have felt connected to a diverse community coming together under the umbrella of technology. This community is there for me when I'm having a bad day, as much as they are there cheering for me when I have something to celebrate. They answer my questions when I'm baffled. They give me so much to consider and learn. They make me laugh and inspire me. And they make me better, every day.
So, thank you Twitter, for providing the platform that has so enriched my life over the past 17 months. But, my thanks especially go to the fine people who make up the community. As I've said many times before, on Twitter, I am humbled by the company I keep.