Less than a decade ago , I owed much of the good in my life toCraigslist . In the early 2000s , the on-line classified ad site help me to find an flat in Los Angeles , score three unlike jobs , buy a condo , record my married woman an appearance on the short - lived realism seriesQueer Eye for the Straight Girl , and trade two cars . These twenty-four hour period , though , my go - to overhaul for coolheaded sprightliness opportunities is Twitter .
The most recent of these tweet - based opportunity involved a ready trip I made Wednesday to our nation ’s capitol to hobnob with President Barack Obama at the White House . I was one of the 50 golden Twitter user ask round by the presidency to give ear the president ’s first everTwitter Town Hall . How ’d I score that sweet opportunity ?
The key factors were a ) having a job that keeps me at my figurer all day , and b ) the official Twitter app for the Mac . I happened to train Twitter at precisely the moment that the @whitehouse accounttweeted about the # AskObama event . I clicked on the linkup , and terminate up fulfill out a brief form to apply to attend the Town Hall in someone . The form included a 140 - character field to explain why you should get picked . I fill up out the whole shape in less than a instant , figuring it was a mostly useless shot in the dark .
A couple days later , I had an e-mail in my inbox inviting me to the event , presuming I pass a certificate headroom . ( I did . ) So on Wednesday , I drive five hours to Washington DC , walked to the White House from the parking garage on I Street , and knew I ’d found the correct entrance when I saw a caboodle of well - dressed 20- and 30 - somethings mill about with smartphones in their manpower .
The White House event was awe-inspiring . Not only did Ishake hands with the chairman , we Twitter guests had license to take photograph inside the White House , which is n’t something every visitant gets to do . And , of path we were ask to populate tweet during Obama ’s session with Twitter co - founder Jack Dorsey . I will admit that I felt some hesitation beg away at my iPhone while sitting mere pes from the leader of the gratuitous world . The exceedingly lousy 3 G reception in the East Room helped me feel less guilty about the fact that I pass more clip enjoying the surreality of the moment than I did send quips about the event on Twitter .
After the Town Hall ’s conclusion , the Twitter 50 were granted an exclusive roundtable discussion at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building , sitting with United States Chief Technical Officer Aneesh Chopra , White House Director of New Media Macon Phillips , and Dorsey . That word was alert and largely tech - focused , covering subject ranging from the Obama governing body ’s assorted tech enterprise ( includingHealthCare.gov , which Chopra billed as “ Expedia for personal health insurance costs ” ) and the state of bandwidth ability in the U.S. ( A National Wireless Initiative would give up the companies that currently own government - depute right to various parts of the wireless spectrum to trade those rights to other company that might well exploit the spectrum . issue of those trades would be used on shortfall step-down and developing a 4 G broadband web for public prophylactic . )
The White House did n’t fabricate the Tweetup concept . In itsblog post about the eventthe White House tip its practical chapeau to NASA , which has heldseveral Twitter - focalise events of its own , letting random NASA Twitter fans expend a few mean solar day guide spell , meet with astronauts and other officials , and observe spacecraft launches , to boot . In fact , bothMacworldeditorial managing director Jason Snell and senior editor Scholle Sawyer McFarland are currently attending NASA ’s Tweetup for thelast - ever scheduled space birdie launching — assuming it eventually stops raining in Florida .
While my slip to the White House is perhaps my coolest life-time event power by Twitter , it was n’t the only memorable one . In the past , I ’ve spoken on the earpiece with “ Weird Al ” Yankovic after he squeeze the phone number of a pay phone he was next to at an airport ; I learned of ( and then joined ) an exclusive fan club for myfavorite band ; I instruct of ( and then bought tickets for ) Conan O’Brien ’s “ de jure nix From Being Funny on Television ” spell ; and , let ’s not forget , Igot a job writing forMacworld .
How many life passions can Twitter put up opportunities to luxuriate ? And perhaps even more importantly , whyis Twitter proving so skillful at serving as the seeming impetus for such passion - pampering ? Perhaps a part of it is Twitter ’s ecumenical equality . You and I get just 140 character per tweet , andBarack Obama , Tom Hanks , andOprahare limited to that same figure . When leaders of land , flick champion , and billionaire moguls are on equal basis with peons like me , that assist us all finger more attached to one another . NASA interact with its fervent fan base , and receive some folk to issue forth geek out over place exploration . The White House brought a few politically - minded tweeters into the same room where President Obama once announcedthe death of Osama bin Laden . And I call back we ’ll experience Twitter has made it when Oprah finally use the service to give away cars .
[ Lex Friedman is a staff author for Macworld . ]
