Thank You!! Influencers of 2012

2012 was a year that I can classify as  ‘coming out of age’ on social media. The aim for this year was to learn more about social media – platforms, tools, strategies and I can surely say, it has been an awesome year. Throughout the year, I have interacted with various individuals, have been great influenced by their thoughts and learnt a lot. Through this post coming out on the last day of the year 2012, I would Thank each of this individuals who have made my social media experience worthwhile.

Late last year, I was introduced to the concept of Twitter Chat and over the year I have participated in multiple such chats. They have been a great source of knowledge and I have made friends with individuals much beyond any geographical boundaries.

Thanks to the following individuals for sharing your knowledge and being great influencer

1. Mack Collier (@mackcollier)

As a host of #BlogChat, one of oldest Twitter Chats, Mack has been driving lots of discussion around best practices, plugins and everything around blogging. He does invite some amazing guest and sponsors. This Twitter Chat makes up much of my Monday morning (it AM in the place i live).

Thanks Mack!!

2. Kelly Lieberman (@Tribe2point0)

“The queen of Pinterest” I can say that without a doubt. Kelly is the host of #PinChat and happens to be one of my biggest influencer on Pinterest. I can owe all my knowledge about the platform to her. Without her and #PinChat, I would have barely made up on Pinterest. And she’s very quick to clear any doubts you may have about Pinterest.

Thanks Kelly!!

3. Linda Bernstein (@wordwhacker)

She’s got great wit, She’s got great opinion and She’s quick. Period. Anyone who has been on a Twitter Chat with Linda around, have experienced the power of quick thinking. She has left me dazzled many times with her quick comments on certain discussions and at all times she’s on the mark. I am always left to say ‘I agree with Linda’. Loads of learnings from her just by following her discussions.

Thanks Linda!!

And then there are many other influencers who I need to thank too  – Jewel Fryer (@jewelfry), Heather Stephenson Bennett (@bennettdoneit), Tim McDonald (@tamcdonald), Beki Winchel (@bekiweki), Steve Cassady (@SteveCassady), Mike Godleman (@mikegodleman) for making Twitter Chats very informative place to be around.

The other place that I was all around is Google+. My adoption of Google+ though has started quite late and may be it was much to do with the SEO benefits early on. Much to my surprise, I have found some very good discussions going on at Google+ and I end up scrolling my Google+ TL infinitely these days.

For my knowledge on Google+, I need to thank these people for being great influencers and owe much to them.

1. Linda Sherman

It all started with our interaction while she was setting up a Google+ Circle for #BlogChat participants. And since then, she has been a constant guide for my on all things Google+. Along with Ray J Gordon, they are one amongst the few Social Media couples, who know their stuff very well. Linda has been one of my biggest influencers, she often gave tips, offline as well through her crisp post (as in the one below) on leveraging social media, especially Google+.

Thanks Linda!! For all those tips about circles and leveraging Google+, tagging your Google+ post here.

2. Cedar Brown

Well, he’s the go-to guy for anything about Google+ Communities. He had been quick to latch on to Communities and share his knowledge with all of us. While I had few interactions with Cedar on few Twitter Chat, he has been a great influencer since the launch of Communities.

Thanks Cedar!!

Maybe towards the last six months of the year, I realized that much of my engagement on social media was out of India. Most of the contacts that I had developed over Twitter Chats and other platforms were beyond my country. While the advantage of that was, I had a better perspective of worldwide trends but then I lost out to information within my own country. Slowly though I have been making some progress, engaging with folks in my own country and thanks to these individuals who have been great influencers and have helped me making the transition easier.

1. Jaydip Parikh (@jaydipparikh)

I had been following Jaydip for a while on multiple platforms and was always amazed by the wealth of information he had on SEO & about running Social Media campaigns. A chance discussion about SEO led us into starting #SEOTalk.  He has been a great influencer since then and in our occasional discussions, he always shares a great perspective. I have tremendous respect for his SEO knowledge and leveraging Social Media to build brands.

Thanks Jaydip!! Looking forward to a bigger, better #SEOTalk in 2013 with you!

2. Prasant Naidu (@LHInsights) & Vinaya Naidu (@oldfox004)

During the early days of Lighthouse Insights, I had occasional interactions with Prasant on Twitter and I admired his thorough knowledge about Social Media adoption in India. It was during AdTech event in Bangalore, that he asked me to cover on behalf of Lighthouse Insights and we started interacting much more. Over time, while I have written multiple articles for him, but it was his and Vinaya’s sharp insights and edits that have amazed me. One of the reason I have great respect for Prasant is, he never comes off like a Social Media Guru (which he actually is) but as a very down-to-earth guy who will just spread his social media experience.

Thanks Prasant & Vinaya!! Great 2013 to Lighthouse Insights!

3. Ankita Gaba (@AnkitaGaba)

Ankita has been one of the most vocal and active social media enthusiast in India and as a co-founder of Social Samosa, she runs one of the best social media website in India. I had been looking at her work and listening to her clear insights about social media in India while our interactions were limited to far and few. But again, it was a Twitter Chat that she hosted #SamosaChat that we started interacting more and I started to learn more about the local trends from her.

Thanks Ankita!! Wishing another great year to Social Samosa!!

Other than the above, I do need to thanks my pals on #SEOTalk – Dipali Thakker (@dipalit), Priyal Parikh (@thepriyalparikh), Nikhil Daiya (@nikhildaiya), Suresh Kumar G (@sureshpeterss) too for making #SEOTalk an amazing resource for SEO in India and dropping by every week to make it a successful Twitter Chat.

Wishing all the readers of this blog an awesome 2013!!

Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc