True story. Yesterday I wrote a guest post on “Moving the Needle.” Since Michael Calienes had been nice enough to ask me to post, I would, periodically throughout the day, tell him the reactions I was getting. At one point he shot me a message that said “Wowser. We should do a follow-up post. Something like, ‘is it possible to move the needle in 24 hours?’”

So I duly put together “results” in a “report”, and posted a draft on Michael’s blog. Around midnight, I sent him a cranky email. “Michael, I just don’t think it’s that *interesting*. Yes, I moved the needle, but *who cares* except for me. I mean, it *felt* like I got some buzz today, but what does that even mean?”

Then I went to sleep, figuring we could decide in the morning whether to post it.

At 2 am, I sat bolt upright in my bed. I had just figured out what was interesting about the results. But first, here are the ways the needle actually moved after the blogpost:

* Three people who I consider “influencers” in this sphere either contacted me by direct message or retweeted the link.
* Four people that I’ve met since starting on Twitter — people with whom there is mutual respect and the possibility of working together in the future — retweeted the link.
* Three people I had never heard of before retweeted it.

* One follow-up phone call has been scheduled to strategize ways of working together.

*One person called to just say he loved the article and had emailed it to some friends.

* One person asked if she could re-use the content in a presentation.
* Two people I never met sent me direct messages telling me they enjoyed the post.
* One person @ replied me with a comment.
* Two people commented on the post on my Facebook wall.
* One person sent me a Facebook message saying she “heard I was doing stuff with Twitter.”
* One person clicked on the FB link saying they “liked my status”.
* One email exchange happened about a possible speaking engagement.
* One email exchange happened where I got to pitch a project idea to a potential client.
* Three people commented on the blog itself.
* At the time the link was being retweeted the most, I was getting new followers on Twitter at the rate of one per minute.

And the insights I had at 2 am? Here you go:

The needle did in fact move, in over a dozen different ways. Any one of those ways might lead to work in the future. All good. All part of the strategy. But the sum total of everything that happened “felt like buzz.” Why?

It felt like buzz because people were taking action across a variety of different media. It the midst of it all, it felt like people were having conversations everywhere. If I had just gotten, say, 35 discreet comments written on the blog post itself, the numbers themselves would have been better. But I don’t think it would have been as impactful.

It felt like buzz because people were talking not just to me, but to each other. One of the great things about social media is that by monitoring the conversations, it’s now possible to “see the buzz” as it unfolds in real time. That’s powerful stuff.

It felt like buzz because people posted comments in public places. When somebody writes on my Facebook wall, it becomes a testimonial for my brand without me having to ask for one.

It felt like buzz because there was a wide variety of the types of people responding: Complete strangers, people I’ve recently met, potential clients, friends, supporters, influencers.

It felt like buzz because people used words – without any prompting from me – that supported my vision of own personal brand: “Insightful” “Useful” “Smart” “You the bomb!!!!”

It felt like buzz because it was all organic — I didn’t ask people to comment, or retweet, or anything. They just did.

My theory is in all this is that if enough needles get moved, enough ideas get shared, enough action gets taken, enough buzz gets generated, that I will create my own personal tipping point. Is that possible? What do you think? And…were my 2 am insights helpful to anyone? Would love to hear comments.