Each week, Digiday pesters a busy industry executive to explain how he or she uses Twitter and to share his or her Twitter must-follows. Last week, Gyro’s Steffan Postaer suggested we all follow, among others, David Burn. Burn serves as chief storyteller at Bonehook, a Portland-based brand identity and content marketing studio. He is also the editor and co-founder of AdPulp.com, a popular ad industry site. To keep the chain going, we asked David about his must-follows. Follow him on Twitter at @davidburn.
Burn: Twitter is a stretching exercise for my brain. It’s a way to get going in the morning, and a way to make my return to the keyboard throughout the day a bit more fun, and nourishing, than it would otherwise be. Of course, Twitter is awash in noise, as is the Web as a whole, so pulling trophy tweets from the stream demands some filtering. Twitter Lists is one way to fish a promising pool. Another option I favor is navigating to a favorite profile page, where I can get a better glimpse of the person’s thinking throughout the day or week. Here’s my super short list of writers who pack a lot of intelligence, wit and charm into their 140 character missives:
Maria Popova, hunter and gatherer (@brainpicker): So many people in the marketing space want to advise their way to the thought leadership title. Maria Popova is on another page. A gifted and dedicated researcher, she knows where to look, what to point out and how to help us see.
Tom Asacker, ombudsman, author (@tomasacker): Tom is a cleaner of industry cobwebs. One sweep of his Tweetbroom and you’re rid of the stale thinking that was sinking ships up and down our carpeted halls. Another great thing about Tom is he’s not afraid to pick up his phone and talk.
Rick Turoczy, champion of tech, co-founder of PDX Incubator (@turoczy): Rick keeps me up on the high tech happenings in Portland’s burgeoning startup scene. He also has a keen sense of humor and the will to use it.
Spike Jones, Texan, group director of engagement at WCG (@spikejones): Spike is one contrary guy. He finds social media bullshit in the wild, drys it out and sets it on fire. Some are repelled, while others are warmed by the glow of Spike’s camp. I’m in the latter group.
Tim Siedell, humorist, co-owner and creative director, Fuse Industries (@badbanana): Tim is an ad man working out of Lincoln, Nebraska. Thanks to his outrageously funny body of work on Twitter, he’s also something of a Tweetebrity, with a book deal and close to 600,000 followers.
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