Cindy King's International Business Blog » followfriday

Twitter FollowFriday – Luuk Christiaens

Cindy King — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:00:19 +0000

You know how some people are just such nice people, you feel comfortable hanging out with them and feel like you have known them for a long time even if you have only just met them? Well, this is what happened when I met Luuk Christiaens, or @LuukChristiaens on Twitter.

This week’s FollowFriday recommendation is a little different. I have actually met Luuk in person. This is not just a Twitter encounter.

A Cross-Cultural Meeting

I met Luuk in person last month, when he drove down from his home in Belgium to meet up with Sean D’Souza. Sean D’Souza is originally from India and lives in New Zealand. Sean came to visit Paris for a few days last month.

Luuk was not the only person to come into Paris to see Sean. Chris Garrett flew in from England. And I had the shortest distance to travel, only a short 40 kilometer drive in from my home.

There were 7 of us including spouses and we spent the day in Paris as tourists walking around and eating together. This is where Luuk came in. You see, although I have lived here in France for over 20 years now, I did not grow up here. Our multicultural group was very lucky. Because Luuk did grow up in Paris. And he knew all of the little secrets Paris has to offer.

Luuk took us along little known paths, down narrow streets and away from the busy tourist areas. He hunted down the perfect place for our multicultural band to have a unique experience of a Parisian lunch. We spent over 2 hours enjoying a meal and each others company. We had so much fun the restaurant owner joined us and later opened up his special reserves only available to connoisseurs.

Luuk knew how to give us all an experience we will all remember for a very long time.

A Rocky Beginning

That is how I met Luuk.

It was not all sightseeing and food. That is also when I learned that he had signed up for my Twitter feed in the past… and unsubscribed because I had too many tweets filling up his Twitter feed. It is not always easy for two different styles of twitterers to connect. There is an imbalance when one persona has a large follower base and Tweets often and the other person has a much smaller follower base and does not Tweet as often.

But since our meeting in Paris we have hooked up again on Twitter and I really appreciate his tweets. It is easy to get to know Luuk. There is something about his Tweets. It is easy to connect.

Why Follow A Guy In Belgium?

First of all Luuk does Tweet in English. These are two things that stand out to me when I think of Luuk:

He is the only native French speaking copywriter I know who has done English language copywriting. He is also the native French speaking person with the longest copywriting experience that I know. You will have to ask him for details, all I can remember clearly is that his credentials impressed me quite a bit.
He now works internationally with art galleries. This is fascinating… and not easy to do.

Do you want to follow an international profile of someone who is sincere, easy to communicate with… and who does not pump out tons of Tweets… then follow @LuukChristiaens

More Twitter FollowFriday Recommendations

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Social Media In International Web Marketing

Twitter FollowFriday – @Tosk59

Cindy King — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:00:53 +0000

Twitter FollowFriday Recommendations

Who would I like to have an in depth conversation with on cross-cultural matters? This week it definitely is:

@Tosk59

Why?

A Brain Energizer

Because all week I have been focused on one repetitive task, so who do I think of when hooking up to Twitter?

@Tosk59… because I need a brain energizer, and I appreciate his wide international interests and his obvious cross-cultural skills.

You see, @Tosk59′s tweets are always:

A wide variety of interesting tweets about all sorts of things
From all over the world

A Source Of Inspiration

He averages about 25-30 tweets a day. This means that I know I will always find lots of new things to look at and re-energize my brain when I need it. I greatly appreciate the links he shares and the fact that these links bring up so many ideas and questions.

If you are on Twitter and want to:

Open your mindset to different countries and different cultures
Find inspiration
Improve your general knowledge

I highly recommend following @Tosk59

Now, I must tell you that @Tosk59 has a very wide list of interests. Among these subjects is politics and military topics which leave me cold. But there is such a wealth of inspiring and thought provoking bits of information there that I don’t get bored with the subjects that do not interest me.

One of the reasons why I like following @Tosk59 is because he opens a viewpoint into different worlds without pushing his personal opinions across. This shows some strong cross-cultural skills.

@Tosk59 is one of the Twitter friends I have not hooked up with by phone, and hope to do so soon… and then be able to give you his real name.

More Twitter FollowFriday Recommendations:

Twitter FollowFriday – Dean Meyers
Twitter FollowFriday – Dean Meyers

More Social Media

Social Media In International Web Marketing

Twitter FollowFriday – Dean Meyers

Cindy King — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:00:35 +0000

Twitter FollowFriday Recommendations

I just received one of the nicest FollowFriday mentions on Twitter:

Taking FollowFriday Beyond 140 Characters

Then a few minutes later I noticed @swoodruff, Steve Woodruff’s suggestion over on Sticky Figure to improve our FollowFridays.

The point: let’s get away from 140-character lists of names, and just focus on one person you recommend, with the reason(s) you follow them.

Steve’s idea is to ask a question and here is his question this week:

With whom would you like to have an in-depth cross-cultural discussion? Cross-cultural could mean different races, different countries – someone that you are connected to who is quite different from you.

Although I always remember FollowFriday too late and do not get around to recommending my favorite Tweeple, I do keep my list of favorite people on Twitter up-to-date on my Twitter profile link.

Steve also talks about a new FollowFriday2 tag on Twitter. But if I cannot remember to tweet the first one, I do not see myself tweeting the second one.

I would like to share with you a little more about who I have met on Twitter and why I enjoy their tweets and their friendship. So here is my answer to Steve’s question today.

The Person I Would Love To Have An In-Depth Cross-Cultural Discussion With

It is Dean Meyers – you can find him on Twitter @deanmeistr

Why?

Well he did just blow me away with such a nice tweet. But also because I have already had a great conversation with him. I am fascinated by what keeps Dean occupied during the day. He is a:

A visual problem-solver who brings a multi-cultural view and fresh ideas to fruition for the arts, education, healthcare and corporate communication.

And he has a ton of cross-cultural experience.

What does this mean?

Well, where I am focused on cross-cultural communication for international sales, Dean has more in-depth expertise in cross-cultural communication through the visual impressions. I am sure you get the picture, we could talk for hours about this.

Plus I know that Dean just attended a great event on visualization and I can’t wait to speak to him again to get an in-dept update.

In addition to this Dean is just a very nice guy. The kind of person you are very happy to know.

Are you interested in cross-cultural topics too?
Are you interested in how visuals impact your international web marketing?

If so, then I highly recommend following Dean on Twitter. He’s a great guy.

I am actually surprised by the number of nice people I have met on Twitter and Dean is but one of them.

So how about I try to share them with you here… on Fridays?