How Do YOU Connect on Twitter?

 

Today is World Wide Web Day, a global celebration dedicated to web browsing and other online activities. Post a selfie, express your opinion with a Tweet, or share a photo of beautiful flowers. But whatever you do, make a connection and be social.

To quote Matthew Kobach (@mkobach), "Twitter is a key that unlocks thousands of doors, some of which you never even knew existed." As a member of the Twitterverse for almost 13 years, I always enjoy meeting new people and learning from them. I recently connected with Jennifer Montgomery and invited her to appear here on my Blog in a Q&A format. Highlights of our conversation follow a brief introduction.

Jennifer Montgomery is the Managing Partner and Director of Learning & Development at Blue Door Group in Nova Scotia, Canada. An award-winning educator, strategist, and development expert, she is a champion for life-long learning and proficient in guiding strategy and policy development across sectors. Her unique combination of business development, entrepreneurial, and teaching experiences help her clients implement meaningful and lasting growth strategies that impact all levels of business - transforming businesses into dynamic and innovative learning organizations. In addition, creating meaningful connections is at the core of Jennifer’s personal brand which she has leveraged to create and co-found the "40 Cups of Coffee" community; a network of professionals that has now spanned North America through online engagements.

QUESTION: Since we met through a TweetChat, and your Twitter profile includes "Follow to learn: how to network with purpose," what's your favorite thing about Twitter?
JENNIFER MONTGOMERY: Twitter is the most community-oriented social platform in my experience. The engagement there is a lot higher which means you get to build more meaningful relationships than on other platforms. The Twitter community I have experienced has been educational, supportive, and inspirational while also being a fun way to get to know others from around the world.

QUESTION: How did you come up with your Twitter handle: @40CupsofCoffeee?
JENNIFER MONTGOMERY: 40 Cups started as a joke when my business partner @StephClarkBDG and I had our first coffee meeting. I went home, wrote it on a sticky note and then put it on my vision board. I knew it spoke to the experience I wanted to share with others about how Networking With Purpose (having those 40 Cups of Coffee) can inspire your growth through connecting with others. Think: 6 Steps to Kevin Bacon only career focused - if you want to land a new job or score a particular contract, who do you need to have coffee with to get introduced to the people who will help make that happen for you? Each “coffee” is a actually just a metaphor for connection; a part of your 40 Cups of Coffee Journey. After 40 Cups, aka 40 connections, you literally can trace your growth through the power of each of those connections, if you are willing to be open to learning from them.

Now, 40 Cups of Coffee has become our second business journey together and we are working on bringing the teaching and resources of 40 Cups together to help more professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders achieve their goals through building meaningful relationships through effective networking.

QUESTION: Who are your some of your favorite people to follow on Twitter?
JENNIFER MONTGOMERY: I don’t like to categorize my favorite people to follow because there are so many. What I can say is that the 5 best characteristics of my favorite accounts to follow are those that are community-focused, positive, supportive, educational, and of course, love to share coffee GIFs, jokes, and quotes. You can find these people by searching for these hashtags: #launchandfounders, #ginnsquad, #leadloudly, #tweet100, and #Ship30.

QUESTION: I'm from California and have been on Twitter since 2009. You're from Canada and have been on Twitter since 2020. There is no question that Twitter makes the world smaller and brings people together. With this in mind, what are some of your favorite uses of Twitter?
JENNIFER MONTGOMERY: Building and contributing to communities with the goal of learning from one another has been my favorite part of twitter. I’m an extrovert and love to meet new people and learn about their superpowers! Twitter has been a great tool to expand my network globally and has helped 40 Cups of Coffee grow to include community members from around the world and not just where I live.   

QUESTION: Lastly, thinking about the famous OREO Tweet during the Super Bowl back in 2013, what is your favorite Tweet?
JENNIFER MONTGOMERY: It's hard to think of one Tweet that's a favorite, but I think Tweets from Wendy's are pretty funny. I love Tweets that provoke conversations as well.

TWEET THIS: I love Tweets that provoke conversations. ~@40CupsofCoffeee

My thanks to Jennifer for sharing her social media insights and for appearing here on my Blog.

Image Credit: Joshua Coleman via Unsplash featuring quote by @ValaAfshar on Twitter.

Check out Jennifer's links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferamontgomery/
and
https://bluedoorgroup.ca/
and
https://40cupsofcoffee.com/