A few months ago, I had never heard the term “Social Media.” Sure, I had several hundred  connections on LinkedIn and Facebook. But I was using the connections mostly to say to myself “Wow! I sure am connected!”

So I joined Twitter because I thought it was just what I needed. More connections.

It didn’t take me long to realize that there were a bunch of really smart people on Twitter, saying some really smart things. People like Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, Dr. Mark Drapeau, Laura Fitton, Karl Long, and Carmen Villadar. And so I listened. I listened to people like Chris Brogan, who taught me how to use social media strategically. Granted, I didn’t even realize that’s what he was doing at the time. I only knew that he was getting me to think about things, really think about them, in ways I hadn’t before. And the more I learned from everyone, the more I wanted to learn. I set goals, tried things, saw what worked, tried new things.

As I tried new things, I made mistakes. I read somewhere, for example, that it was possible to connect with the influencers. Poor Chris Brogan was my first victim. I replied to things he said, sent direct messages, emailed him, friended him on Facebook. In short, I was downright annoying. Finally, I wrote a comment on his blog post saying that I had tried all those things but nothing had worked. He messaged me back that day. Two hours later, Chris Brogan and I meet for lunch.

Chris talks to me about how he spends his life trying to figure out where the intersection of technology and communication will be six months from now so he can show up there. He talks of business strategy and 110 hour work weeks. He says that every time he walks into a client meeting, he tells them exactly how he will move the needle. I tell Chris my belief that coming at communication tools like Twitter from a brand messaging standpoint has great value. We barely notice that the chowder is lukewarm and oversalted.

The brand messaging discussion is similar to one I had a few days earlier with Kim Dougher. Kim is a former client who I hadn’t seen in four years. She joined Facebook, and since she was new to Facebook, I wrote on her wall,  inviting her to meet. Over tea, I explain Twitter to her — how it’s the combination of individual conversations and brand messaging to thousands that makes it so different from other media platforms. I am so excited I almost knock my cup of tea over. Kim tells me she wants to be known as the person who can jump into any freelance project, figure out what needs to be done, and do it. Driving home, I get an idea for how what we discussed could work in real life for a major retailer. I email it to Kim. Three days later, I get a reply saying she has spoken to the client in charge of Social Media for that retailer. That person wants to meet me. Kim has set up the introduction.

Flash back to 20 years ago, to a creative concepts course taught by Edward Boches. It was there that my passion for branding and advertising began. Yet for the past 20 years, Edward and I had probably said four words to each other. When he started on Twitter, I shot Edward an email talking of one way I was using Twitter strategically – to follow at least one person from every country in the world, learning to be a “global conversationalist.” Five minutes later, Edward phones, thanking me. His passion for the potential of Twitter is palpable, and he, too, has an idea: invite the ad community to comment on Superbowl commercials using Twitter. Within a week, we start promoting the idea on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Ad folks I barely talk to in real life email me late at night. “Help me figure out this Twitter thing, will you?” I help them. Hundreds of people show up to review the ads.

It’s the night of the Superbowl, and guess who I meet for the first time? Michael Calienes. A day or two later, Michael appears on Chris Brogan’s blog. It seems to me this guy is everywhere. So I send him quick message, comment on his idea of “Presence Engineering” and the next day we talk on the phone. I feel like we’ve gone from stranger to friend in about 60 seconds. After my own lunch with Chris Brogan, I send Michael a long email, sharing all I learned from Chris that afternoon. Yesterday, Michael asked me to write this blog post. He suggested I call it “moving the needle.”

You know, there’s a debate that rages on about whether it’s the quantity of connections or quality of connections that’s better in social media, and I want to laugh. In my mind, it’s not really about either.

It’s about the courage to have ideas, share ideas and act on ideas.

Find a needle you think you can move. And move it.

How have you used social media to “move the needle” today?

(Connect with Lisa Hickey here.)