One great benefit of Twitter is it has somewhat leveled the playing field and allowed access to influencers and celebrities normally out of reach to most. Twitter is public and streaming. I have to agree that balance is the way to go in this circumstance.

Also Joel makes an interesting point above that would make a great discussion.

Good idea + no one listening = dead end
Bad idea + influentials listening = dead end
Good idea + influential(s) listening = idea that is repeated and built upon

It’s all about balance, quality + audience = ideal.

The only thing you can do is get out there and stop worrying about who you know, or if your idea is going to be the next big thing. Just speak up and believe in it, regardless.

There’s always a risk of total failure or being ignored, but you can’t know what floats until you drop it in the water — and you can’t wait until you’ve bent some influential ears to start doing it.

That why I KNOW that if you have enough confidence and passion in what you think and what you believe, and if you enter into every situation willing to both share AND really, really listen… you can’t help but make a few waves.

This only works when you have good ideas. From what I know of you and what you’ve done/where you’ve been, you’ve had good ideas.

When I started on Twitter in March 2007, I was a semi-longtime blogger (not compared to half the bloggers out there, mind you, especially in the tech space), but didn’t know anyone who was actually Twittering.

I found random people to follow by observing @ replies and starting conversations with people I had never heard of. I didn’t know their reputations or their backgrounds, since the PR/Marketing and Technology spaces weren’t my usual “pond” — I only knew personal bloggers.

And I was just a writer… I didn’t have anything new to offer in terms of knowledge or information in either field, so there was really no reason for anyone to care what I had to say.

In the time since, I haven’t followed thirty thousand people, or signed up for every possible social media platform, or gone to any conferences or unconferences or panels, or collected a single business card (well, I do have my boyfriend’s card, that’s a lie), or worked publicly for a high profile company, or hosted a webinar on how to use tools, or written a single post at my blog about social media. Not one.

Yet now more than 5 K people are following me on Twitter (why?!), I’ve done work for clients I never could have dreamed I’d even connect with (clients who approached me themselves), I’ve gathered a wealth of knowledge in fields I had no clue about (just by keeping my eyes and ears open), I’ve helped found a fledgling non-profit that has raised almost $35,000, I’ve found the love of my life, and I’m planning a major change of employer and location that will only be possible because of connections I’ve made through social media.

All I have had the entire time is ideas, start to finish.

That why I KNOW that if you have enough confidence and passion in what you think and what you believe, and if you enter into every situation willing to both share AND really, really listen… you can’t help but make a few waves.

Not sure how that message got lost when I ended it this way.

If you yourself have become the new breed of “gatekeeper”—ask yourself “is it who I know, or what they know?”. Ideally, its both—but up to us individually to strike the right balance.