Over the last several months I’ve experienced a phenomenon that has yet to be named:  Meeting people in person who I had previously only known through Twitter.  It started by meeting folks at social media events in the Boston area (thanks to breakfasts organized by Bryan Person @bryanperson and an evening event sponsored by EMC and Len Devanna @LenDevanna).  I’ve met numerous folks, all I would describe as "good eggs" – from Ami Chitwood @achitwood, leading internal knowledge management at a large consulting firm to the Twitter gurus of the Mzinga crew including Aaron Strout @astrout and Jim Storer @jstorerj to most recently meeting Amy Worley @worleygirl, Director of Interactive Marketing for H&R Block, at the Forrester Marketing Forum.

Here’s one story that jumps high in the "coolness factor" of that twitter to real life experience. 

Months ago when I started on Twitter, I spotted Phillip Zannini @phillymac, an enthusiastic video blogger, Red Sox/Patriots fan, talented interactive designer and all around good family guy.  This week, we both posted that we would be heading to Cleveland.  On Monday, I found out he has accepted a position working at Brulant, the same company.  <cue shameless plug>  I am a partner in our Consumer Product and Retail vertical, focusing on clients in NJ and Michigan while working to expand our presence in the Northeast.  <end shameless plug> One area I have not been as involved in to date is recruiting and staffing in the interactive marketing side of our practice.  Phillip started on Monday and actually used Twitter to DM me once we started to connect the dots:

DM string:
adamcohen:  What’s up in Cleveland? I’m flying there tomorrow AM for a couple days
phillymac: Start my new gig at 9:00am, flying home Thursday evening.
…later…
phillymac: I just started working for Brulant. Are you the same Adam Cohen that is in their directory?
phillymac: Ha! You are! I just checked your blog again and it’s the same picture. That’s just TOO funny.
adamcohen: Dude, are you serious about Brulant? Y, I’m a partner there but based in Boston. Are you at Park East in Beachwood?

I was able to grab some time to hear about his background and his experience plugging in with our team.  For me this is my best story about moving from Twitter to a building a much more personal connection.  I look forward to having Phillip as a great part of our team and we’re fortunate to have him aboard.  Last thing I expected was to have someone hired by my company who I had met through Twitter – without me knowing.

Have a good twitter connection story to share?

Photo: AlfredN via Flickr.