Anny Chih

It’s been said that everyone in the world is connected within six degrees of separation. In Brisbane, it’s more like two.  – me.

You know how “social media evangelists” and die-hard twits are always telling people they should be using Twitter because it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread? I don’t always agree with their stats (they usually say something about how there are x million number of users etc. when really only a small fraction of those accounts are in use) nor do I think Twitter is for everyone.

When I tell people I’m a twit, they usually ask what Twitter is and whether I think it’s worth it for them to join. Here are my answers and my Twitter story:

Twitter

Twitter (in the dictionary according to Anny): another medium on the internet that allows people (aka twits, twitterers, tweeps) to communicate with each other using short blurbs of 140 characters or less, known as “tweets”* (singular: “tweet”).

*Tweets are similar to Facebook status updates. However, twits seem to have become increasingly critical of Twitter users who tweet about themselves and their food consumption rather than “hot topics” or cool links.

Do I think it’s worth it for you to join Twitter? Well, that depends. I like to compare Twitter to a telephone. If you’re going to use it on a regular basis and you like communicating with others on it, then it’s a great idea. If you plan on joining simply because you heard it’s the thing to do (*cough* *cough* Sheep! *cough*) and you don’t really like the idea of having all your thoughts out there for the world to criticize, or you don’t plan on using it very often, then joining Twitter is a waste of your time.

Personally, I love Twitter and it loves me right back. <3

My Twitter Story (Alternative title: It’s Two Degrees in Brisbane)

The story begins with a single tweet by @612brisbane about the top condiments Australians like to put on their breakfast toast. 612 ABC Brisbane is a radio station based in Brisbane, Queensland Australia and they do a lot of listener surveys about all sorts of random things. Because ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) is a national publicly funded broadcaster, they can’t mention brand names like Vegemite (which was of course, one of the favourite Australian toast condiments). The tweet described Vegemite as a brown yeast-based spread and it sounded pretty gross to me. I hadn’t discovered Vegemite yet and didn’t know what they were talking about so tweeted back asking what it was. Spencer from the Breakfast show DM’ed me back with the answer. (Note for non-twits: a DM is a “Direct Message” which is only visible to the person you’re messaging)

After the Top 50 candidates for the Best Job in the World were announced, 612 ABC Brisbane was the FIRST media outlet to contact me for an interview. I was impressed. The local Vancouver-based radio and television stations (save CBC) were about 20 minutes behind and they were half a world closer!

Spencer in studio at 612 ABC Brisbane

I kept in contact with Spencer through Twitter, and when I came to Brisbane I asked if I could tour the radio station. Not only did he say yes, but he also invited me down for an interview.

Plain and simple: Spencer is Awesome (or as they say in Australia “Owe-some”)! He knew I was looking for a job so while we were on the air, he asked his listeners to call in if they could offer me any work. The first caller in was Dr. Andrew Laming MP from Cleveland (it’s about an hour South of Central Brisbane) who said he’d like to hire me to do some work as an Events Assistant. How perfect is that? I’ve been working in his office for over a month now and it’s been absolutely fabulous. The people at the office: Matt, Sara, Marty, Louise and of course Andrew are all uber-great and I really couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

Majella in the control room at 612 ABC Brisbane

But there’s more! A few days later, Spencer and Majella (his Producer) called for me to come in for a follow-up interview. Of course I jumped at the chance! Spencer knew I was also looking for accommodation, so he was going to ask his listeners if they could offer me a place to stay (how nice is that eh?). Before we went on air though, we were chatting in the control room where a girl named Natalie was filling in for someone who was on holiday. When Natalie heard I was looking for a place to stay, she offered me a room! I thought “holy guacamole are Brisbanites ever nice!”

In the end, I didn’t end up staying with Natalie because her home is very far from Cleveland. She’s such a sweetheart though and put out a message to her friends asking if anyone had a spare room. One of her friends happens to be Sarah Moran who was the media guru who travelled the world with Hailey Turner from the Best Job in the World campaign. Sarah happened to also be friends with James Hill from the campaign, who I had met just a couple of weeks before this series of events. Within about the 10 minutes after Natalie put out her message, Sarah responded, we talked on the phone for a couple of minutes (about the same amount of time I had spent with Natalie in the studio) and she said she’d pick me up from the hostel the next morning! I couldn’t believe my luck!

Sarah and Simon at the Powerhouse Theatre

The next day, Sarah picked me up, we dropped off my gear at her place and had tea, went to visit the markets, made a trip to see her sister, watched a comedy show at Powerhouse with her boyfriend, and ate dinner at Sitar’s. She had a spare room at her place for one week and then was going to go to New Zealand for a family ski trip the next week. Knowing that she would only have a spare bed during those two weeks, she phoned around to see if anyone else had a place for me. Her friend Dan happened to have just bought an apartment across the street and was in the area when she phoned. We met up with him, and guess where I’m staying now? LOL I’m renting Dan’s spare room until the end of August.

Now there was a week long gap between Sarah’s return from New Zealand and Dan’s official move-in date where I didn’t have a place to stay. I think I must be one of the luckiest people on earth. My boss (Andrew) had offered to lend me his “apartment” in Mooloolaba on any of the dates in August where there wasn’t already someone staying there. A few of the dates listed were during that week where I would’ve been homeless. So, on the Sunday after Sarah returned, my co-worker Sara let me stay in her spare room. On Monday, Sarah and I left for Mooloolaba and while she had to come back early on Tuesday, I stayed until Thursday morning. Dan’s apartment wouldn’t be ready until Friday afternoon so there was just one night I had to find a bed for: Thursday.

Kelley and me at the Ekka

And the chain of events continues! I would’ve just stayed in the hostel at Mooloolaba for another night, but I had to be back in Brisbane for Friday. Why? Well, Spencer being as fabulous as he is (not only does he do his research for all his interviews – even little ones like me! – but he can edit segments in seconds WHILE carrying on a conversation with you!) has a lot of listeners. A few of those listeners happened to be producers for Mornings with Kerri-Anne (including Kelley Shepherd). Mornings with Kerri-Anne is based in the Australian state of New South Wales, but they were going to be travelling to Queensland for one day (Friday) to film at the Ekka (Brisbane’s annual fair). Because of the interview on Spencer’s show, they invited me to be on Mornings with Kerri-Anne! Very exciting!

So where did I stay on Thursday night? Well, since Sarah and I were going to go to the Ekka together, I crashed on her couch for the night and we left together in the morning. At first she thought that the segment was going to be filmed with Kerri-Anne Kennerley in NSW and me in Brisbane. When she found out that morning that we were going to be meeting Kerri-Anne in person, she just about flipped! LOL She’s a big fan.

So to sum up the story: One tweet turned into a radio interview with the best in the radio biz, that turned into a job, several places to stay, heaps of new friends, and a segment on a huge television show! This is why I love Twitter and Twitter has obviously loved me right back.

A HUGE GIGANTUAN THANK YOU goes out to Spencer Howson for being a twit.