The “say g’day to Paull Young” meetup, which expanded into the first impromptu meetup of the BostonTweeters, was a smashing success Monday night.

As in other instances where I finally came face-to-face with someone I’d corresponded with for a good while online, “meeting” Paull was more proof for me that social media connections are genuine and powerful.

Here are 10 takeaways from the evening:

  1. Nary is there a social media conversation of any kind these days that doesn’t include a discussion of Twitter. Such was the case in this meetup, where five of the seven people I shared food and drink with would certainly have been somewhere other than MJ O’Connor’s Pub had we not had an initial “Twitter connection.”
  2. Paull Young is as swell a bloke in real life as he looks in Second Life and sounds in comments to some of my favorite podcasts, including one I’ll mention below. Paull arrived in New York City — and America — just last week, and he was already travelling in his role as a senior account exec for New York City-based Converseon.
  3. The only quibble I have with Paull — albeit a big one — is that he’s decided to adopt the New York Yankees as his favorite baseball team. But Paull made that announcement while sitting among a crowd of passionate and loyal Red Sox followers in downtown Boston, so I’ll at least give him credit for having some stones.
  4. None of us had met Laura Fitton prior to Monday night, but I have no doubt we’ll be seeing her again soon. Laura is a relative newcomer to Twitter who saw my announcement for the meetup and came along to say g’day and to make some new connections. She had plenty to add to the conversation and is an expert at helping professionals to deliver presentations. Wonder if she can help me with my next Twitter presentation?
  5. Scott Monty might well have been the most enterprising member of our bunch Monday night. As we all chatted about the current and potential future uses of Twitter, Scott whipped out his phone and registered a Twitterotica account. Watch that space.
  6. Steve Garfield and I agree that while Jaiku is intriguing, it’s still playing second fiddle to Twitter.
  7. “Strine” is a rich dialect of the English language. As a guy who spent the better part of two years living Down Under, I had a good handle on most of what “country boy” Paull was carrying on about. I just hope everyone else did.
  8. If you’re a student at Oberlin College, like Jesse Baer is, the Oberlin Confessional is far more addictive than Twitter.
  9. Steve Garfield is a master of “fauxtography”.

    Paull Young in Boston from stevegarfield on Vimeo

  10. There’s no escaping FIR. It seems that Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, co-hosts of the outstanding PR podcast of the same name, have taken to sponosoring men’s rooms at Irish pubs in Boston.
    FIR is everywhere. Bryan Person and Paull Young

Related links from the “say g’day to Paull Young” meetup
* Original upcoming.org announcement
* Flickr photos
* Steve Garfield’s video

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