Meet Rochester's Twitterers

Though some see in this communication counterculture the end of Western civilization, the social networking trend continues to surge in popularity.
Even here in stable Rochester, doctors, entrepreneurs, gadget geeks, newspaper reporters, students and fans of "Battlestar Galactica" all have embraced the new medium, according Twittergrader.com, a Web site that ranks the Twitter elite in Rochester.
Among them is Erik Giberti, a Rochester information technology freelancer. A self-described "family man, gadget geek, environmentalist, gear head and a fan of good beer living," Giberti is ranked No. 3 among Rochester Twitterers, according to Twittergrader.
Staying connected
Twitterers send and receive short messages, called "tweets," on Twitter's Web site, with instant messaging software or with a mobile phone.
Giberti tends to view the social networking site as a big party with multiple rooms. Maybe you decide to walk into one room and take in some of the conversation. You listen, maybe add your two cents, and then eventually leave.
"That party is going to continue to happen and you're going to miss things. If that bothers you, then obviously you wouldn't want to Twitter," Giberti said.
Giberti figures he tweets anywhere from a dozen to two dozen times a day. Sometimes he Twitters to express a personal thought or to keep his Facebook up to date and current. Other times, he'll use Twitter to attend conferences virtually, eavesdropping on meetings as far away as San Francisco with the social network's help.
"I can get the list of what's going on at the conference and get all the highlights, because inevitably somebody is going to Twitter pretty much everything that gets said," Giberti said.
Twitter is also slowly becoming a "knowledge base where you can ask a question to Twitter and get responses," he said. A couple of weeks ago, Giberti was in New York with a co-worker, looking for some teleoffice space to work from. Within half an hour of sending out a query via Twitter, they found a place to work that was free.
For some, Twitter is a chance to express their alter egos more freely. Ranked No. 12 among Rochester Twitterers is Tim Walsh. A Rochester family man, Walsh doesn't use his real name or display a photograph of himself on his Twitter site. Instead, he calls himself "OhCaptain" and posts a cartoon of a Simpsonesque character wearing a scruffy beard.
For Walsh, who loathes all things "politically incorrect" even when he doesn't necessarily oppose the view, Twittering is an opportunity to say whatever is on his mind. Walsh calls it "instant messaging in the wind." Maybe people are listening, maybe not.
"Just being able to say what you want when you want to. When you're at work all day and stuff like that, you don't always gets to speak your mind," Walsh said.
That's not to say that Walsh spends all his time railing against the politically incorrect. Walsh maintains a clutch of poker blogs and Twitter is another avenue to write about his love of poker and stay connected with a "whole other interesting subculture all in itself."
Growing with Twitter
For many, Twitter is an opportunity to build a social network with an eye toward one day using those connections to build or enhance one's business.
Amy Charland, the Rochester owner of a career empowerment coaching company, said she started her company with the idea of helping "women blossom into their best selves."
But she soon discovered that everyone who was successful in her field was advising her to get on Facebook and Twitter.
Soon she was following experts in her field via Twitter and they were following her and the thing quickly snowballed. Charland now has more than 1,000 followers and is ranked second among the Rochester elite, but she calls herself a "little fish in a big pond."
"I'm comparing myself to the gurus out there who have like 32,000 followers," Charland said.
For now, Charland isn't using Twitter to promote her coaching business. She's more interested in using it just to get to know people. Unlike with Facebook, you don't have to go through the ritual of asking a person to be your friend. You can be part of the Twitter universe simply by starting a conversation, as Charland recently did with a woman in London.
"We were just going back and forth having this great conversation," Charland said.
Charland is convinced of one thing. Twitter is here to stay.
"It's a great way to connect, and that's really what we all want. We want to connect with other like-minded people, to feel like we're not alone in the universe."