Many years ago, back in 1990, I was at a local book store and purchased a copy of Guy Kawasaki’s The Macintosh Way—The Art of Guerrilla Management. Many books have influenced me over the years, however, The Macintosh Way is one of only a handful of books that has changed me.

To this day, I’m not sure why the secondary title is The Art of Guerrilla Management when clearly it’s a book on product marketing. The Macintosh Way introduced a number of key concepts that I still carry with me and are now so integrated into my thinking, they’ve become a part of who I am.

• Doing the right thing, the right way
• Ask for forgiveness, not permission
• Having a passion for what you are marketing
• Identify and cater to “the cult” users or buyers in your market
• Establish and support your core group
• Empower your employees and customers to do the right thing

In 1990, I was promoting events of questionable legality—or the proper permitting—in Los Angeles. It was during this time when I met @unfreakable. He’s one of only a handful of people who I’ve been in consistent contact with since those days. @unfreakable is one of only a few close friends who remembers all the work we’d put into these events, how we’d promote them, and how we’d organize them with the help and support of our friends and followers.

Last Fall, I had mentioned to @unfreakable that I was excited to see Guy Kawasaki posting on Twitter and how Guy Kawasaki had unknowingly mentored me though his authorship of The Macintosh Way. I hadn’t known this but @unfreakable is also a big fan of Guy Kawasaki. A brief discussion about what Guy has written ensued. @unfreakable didn’t know that a lot of what I deployed in the course of producing and promoting those events—back when we were only 23 and 24—were influenced by my having read The Macintosh Way.

Last Saturday, I saw @guykawasaki pop up in my timeline and I took it as an opportunity to ask Guy if Twitter Stars could be on his Alltop site. Guy was kind enough to agree to add Twitter Stars to the social media category. On Thursday, I saw that Twitter Stars had been added to Alltop and I @’d Guy with a thank you.

I think it would have been strange had someone told me in 1990, that @unfreakable and I would still be friends, still working together promoting, and that I would have contact with Guy Kawaski on something called a “micro-blog”. (Even more strange would have been if someone told me that one day I’d be communicating with Guy Kawasaki from a PC instead of a Macintosh!)

My AIM is flashing. I have @lauralovesart telling me that I need to sign up for Kwippy in one window and @hellobethanne in the other letting me know she just got home from the gallery she works at. Ah, lauralovesart just emailed me a Kwippy invite!

I’ve been using Twitter for a year now. It’s so integrated into my life that I rarely stop and think about it anymore. On any given night, I’m connecting over IM with friends whom I’ve made on Twitter. I’m talking on the phone with friends from Twitter. I’m trading DM’s with friends over Twitter. These days, Twitter seems to be the hub of my social life.

So, when I’m on Twitter, I’m not thinking about where someone works, how much money they’ve made, what kind of car they drive, or the house they live in—They’re all just sorta people. I either connect with them or I don’t. I didn’t think twice about asking Guy Kawasaki if Twitter Stars could be on Alltop. Twitter it seems is a great equalizer. In many ways Twitter levels the playing field among us. We each get the same 140 characters with which to express ourselves.

Barriers that would exist between people in other situations don’t seem to exist on Twitter. We are all stripped down to our bare essentials; our written voice. In this way we each have an equal footing and are free to interact with anyone who chooses to respond to us. We are rejected or accepted based on who we are rather than what we have. This is what I like about Twitter. It’s a big melting pot of personalities, people, and professions.

I sent an email to @crystal a year ago letting her know that I felt Twitter would one day be as ubiquitous as the telephone, email, or IM. Even with The Great Twitter Follower Crash of 2008, I still feel that way.

I’d like to read your stories about the relationships you’ve developed on Twitter and how using Twitter has changed your life.

• Have you met anyone on Twitter who you never thought you’d ever have a conversation with?
• Has Twitter changed your social life? Have you made new business contacts? New friends?
• Have you met people on Twitter who you now talk with on the phone or meet with in real life?
• What have you learned about people by using Twitter?

From Twitter

markdavidson: @guykawasaki Does http://twitterstars.com qualify to be on AllTop.com? Thanks.

guykawasaki: @markdavidson We’ll add to socialmedia.alltop.com

markdavidson: @guykawasaki Awesome! Thanks! Now I get to add the “Confirmation that I kick ass!” badge! Alltop FTW!

markdavidson: @guykawasaki Thanks for putting http://twitterstars.com on Alltop!

guykawasaki: @markdavidson glad to help! Pls spread the word.