The first time I participated in a tweetup, I had one of those ‘does anyone smell toast?’ moments that apparently happen before you have a stroke.

It was all too much. I was trying to engage, to chat, get in the flow. Yet all I experienced was an increasingly anxious sense that events were passing me by; that the data’s flow was too fast. I floundered, I drowned.

I turned up, but was turned off. 

Twitter is still not my preferred mechanism for co-learning – I prefer to dip a toe, to follow meanders suggested my people I trust by following. The live, two-way part of it is a more slippery beast.

However, I keep moving forward in social, learning as I go. I keep turning up. I learn by doing. This week, I participated in a tweet-up about enterprise social alongside many #CAWW friends, and it was a blast.

If you are interested in enterprise social, it is worth a perusal. The Storify is here.

Not only did I feel in the midst of the flow, I felt I added value and I learned plenty too. How many meetings or events do you attend where you can honestly say that? I had met none of the other participants (though many reputations precede them.)

It was a high trust, open, positive experience. This is the new world of personal knowledge management, self-directed learning, net work, community engagement. It feels good.

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