Twitter introduce a new feature a few months ago to their notifications that alerted you when someone favorited one of your tweets.  Favoriting a tweet is like bookmarking, Facebook liking and Google +1′ing it, sort of.  Favoriting has been something private that could only be seen by the account owner like things you bookmark in your browser while the latter two are public and outward facing.

In my video, I explain how my friend Meghan, connected myself and a friend after she realized, through a favorited tweet, we both lived in San Francisco.

The Story

My friend Meghan Wilker (@irishgirl) who lives and works in Minneapolis, retweeted one of my tweets about an upcoming WordPress training. She’d taken the class online and loved it.  Then, Meghan saw her friend, Carol, who also lives in San Francisco, favorited her retweet. Meghan then took the time to write an email introduction so we could connect since we both live in SF.

How awesome is that? I realized that initially everyone groaned about the new twitter notifications but after having this happen and talking with social media clients who feel frustrated by the sheer number of tools out there intended to help them “manage” Twitter, I thought this was a perfect example of taking things back to basics on how to draw value from this new Twitter feature.

What did they favorite?

This tells you what people value in your Twitter stream. Since favoriting is is like bookmarking something, it shows that they want to reference your tweet. What did you share? A link? A personal thought about your view of the world? A breaking news story? Something funny or uplifting? Take note and use these favorited tweets to shape your Twitter persona.

Who favorited it?

Is it someone who follows you? Was someone following a keyword or a hashtag and catch your tweet that way? Is it someone you met at a conference? How often do the two of you talk? Use the favorited tweet as a segway to start a longer conversation offline or via email with them. I pay attention after conferences now to who favorites my tweets and see it as a great opportunity to connect about my technology consulting and training services.

When did they favorite your tweet?

In my video, I give the example of tweeting something before lunch yet seeing that someone favorited it just after dinner. This will give you insight into when people are potentially reading your tweets and may be an opportunity to adjust your tweeting schedule. Twitter of course is full of tweets and links but people have a tendency to share business related items during the day and personal items later on. Maybe save that story about your new breakfast shake with almonds until the evening when people will have a better chance of seeing it.

How Google Can Run With This Concept

Google+ tells you who +1′d and shared your content. I’d like to see a running log of it and I can then see this tying into a CRM, lead and deal tracking system in say….Google Apps?