EVERY day as I sit at my computer I follow a constant stream of interesting tidbits.
They are flowing into my consciousness though social media - Twitter to be precise.
For those of you who have not yet engaged in Twitter, it is an ongoing feed of comments, links, thoughts, and observations from just about anyone.
I follow a small group of people who I consider interesting, who are posting about topics I am interested in.
Within that group are companies I am following, friends, and many news sources and journalists covering high tech, education, or social media. Many of these people I have never met.
There is an interesting phenomenon growing out of the success of Twitter. New prophets - if we can call them that - are being created.
Some people have a knack for being interesting. We all have friends or co-workers who have that magic combination of being great communicators, being interested in compelling things, and having a sharing and giving personality.
We are drawn to these people, a coffee with them is an engaging and fascinating visit, regardless the topic that is discussed. They have the ability to make us interested in things that really don't interest us!
In the Twitter world, this knack can be the ticket to stardom.
People who I never would have heard of before now become a staple of my day as their tweets roll by my eyes.
The net result is they have begun influencing me, the articles they are reading and reposting become the articles I read, and in fact I find myself parroting some of their most interesting comments to the people who follow me.
This is the most democratic of processes. We follow people whose comments resonate with us, and slowly a like-minded coalition of sorts is formed.
If I find I engage often with one of the people I follow, I then check out their list, to see who they are following.
Traditional media simply can't touch this organic growth, the best of them participate, and they are slowly turning their reporters and commentators into minor celebrities.
Even without a media company behind them a whole new group of online celebrities are being formed. Individuals who have the communications "knack" and put in the time are gaining not thousands, but hundreds of thousands of followers.
As a result, they are becoming strong forces of influence, and their words are reaching far and wide.
Are they the modern prophets? The best of them do open my eyes to new viewpoints, help me mold my opinion and often give me pause.
Naysayers will be quick to point out there is little or no due diligence guaranteed on Twitter.
An individual posts a comment, no editor checks it (my spelling mistakes are a constant source of humiliation!), no journalistic principals are in play.
However the community itself becomes self editing, If someone posts something offensive or wrong the community votes with the unfollow button.
If you are yet to take the plunge into Twitter, give it a shot, it's free, sign up at www. twitter.com and you should follow two sources to start, how about @NorthShoreNews and @dottotech?
Steve Dotto is host of Dotto Tech, 6 p.m. Wednesdays on AM650. Email your questions and comments to questions@ dottotech.com. Visit him online at www.dottotech.com or at www.facebook.com/dottotech.
