Ten Twitter Followers Who Taught Me What It Means To Be Socially Genuine.

You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. - John Bunyon

1) Jay Shetty: Like half of the world in the past couple months, I first heard Jay's content on his HuffPost Live's vid blog on "Rethinking Happiness." Viscerally inspiring. That's what this guy is. I followed him, and he thanked me (sans automated response). I retweeted his video, and he thanked me again. The guy has almost 14K followers, is part of the Accenture Digital (Consulting) Family, and somewhere in there he gets the time to give and shine awareness on the transformative work the DSM Leadership Forum in the UK. While I regard both his motivational and analytical messaging as truth, he, more importantly, taught me that no matter how far your social influence reaches, there's a real person behind every Twitter handle, and it won't mean much to the world if you can't connect with people on a personal level.

2) Meghan Biro: This social powerhouse is the CEO of TalentCulture and moonlights as an insanely impressive contributor to Forbes, Entrepreneur, and the Huffington Post. I first heard her insightful take on US employment issues listening to her weekly #WorkTrends podcast which was focused on diversity and inclusion in the workplace today. It was a session held jointly with Legal Editor for XpertHR, Beth Zoller. What I heard in that podcast and the general theme of Meghan's messaging is that she has a genuine interest in changing the holistic way people work. Above all, she focuses on giving everyone the information we so critically need to challenge the status quo and quickly breaks down the technical terminology walls of employment law for us to clearly figure out what we want out of our work-life balance. If you're looking to actively learn how the workplace is evolving and why it should matters to your career (and life) regardless of industry, make sure she's on your feed.

3) Jeremy Goldman: Totally just the funniest social aficionado I've met. The guy has written a quintessential social handbook called Going Social and is the founder of the creative, NY-based FireBrand Group. He's also a well-followed contributor to Inc. Magazine and TNW publications, but that's not all. His claim to fame in my eyes is just downright engaging humor. From hilarious cat JPEGs to drawing sarcasm on millennial conversation speak, he somehow adds a lighter, more human approach to social interaction, making one feel, maybe I don't need to talk about clicks, impressions, followers all day, I can just reach out with - Hey how's it going?

4) Dr. Joyce Knudsen: The day Dr. Joyce followed me I nearly keeled over the couch. Why? Because this is a woman who makes the first 70 years of life seem like just the beginning, and here I am thinking "What could she possibly learn from me?" It started to make some sense when I read one of her countless advice pieces "14 Secrets of Social Media."
No. 1 - Pay it Forward.
No. 5 - Be Transparent.
No. 6 - Earn Trust.
What stood out as the takeaway was that it's not about following for a follow back, or pitching your stuff regularly to 'persuade' others to share your material, sometimes it's just putting out there what you know, and hopefully you'll change someone's life along the way.

5) Peter Economy: Peter is INDEED the Leadership guy at INC. or Life in my opinion. Before I even started thinking about writing random thoughts of my own, I read his articles ranging from "5 Steps to Creating Highly Effective Teams" to "How to Recover From Public Failure," not forgetting my personal favorite "37 Disney Quotes That will Inspire you to be Remarkable." I can't help but wonder how many lives has he emotionally saved from the ever occurring personal despair of our daily shortcomings. Whether it 1 or 100,000, I firmly believe his writing is the kind we critically need to change our individual universes and long term perspective for the best.

6) Dede Watson: You know that cliche, intimate and sensitive line "I want to get to know you?" or " Tell me a bit about yourself, I'd like to get a sense of what you're like." Dede has done that and more with the forever changing persona of the 'typical' millennial. Named one of Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers and owner of TurnItSocial.com, her content focuses on the authenticity of one's social presence and knowing what it means to practice the fundamentals of audience expansion in today's social media jungle. In other words, be real, listen and tell the story you want the world to know in your by your definitions.

7) Brent McCluskey: You need his Vines and GIFs in your life period.

8) Winnie Sun: Winnie is a social superstar by every meaning of the phrase but what hits you at first look, is her contagious enthusiasm and about anything she throws out into the complex world of Financial Planning. I mean besides writing for Forbes, being the founder and managing director of her own wealth management firm in California and promoting #earthday in-between, she finds the time to acknowledge tweets, personal DMs and connecting genuinely on LinkedIn. She's a modern day role model, the untypical kind, making us think the hardest things to understand about managing money can be the most enlightening to learn.

9) Sam Hurley: Head of Search Marketing at Midas Media in the UK, down-to-earth SEO knowledge Champion, and more importantly his tweets will drown your feed in thought-provoking Marketing content. I can't fit all the TV, and print features he's been covered by just because that would be a couple of paragraphs on its own. One can attribute his extremely admirable success to the fact that his posts canvas so many dynamic marketing wormholes, that you will learn everything from "16 Irreplaceable Tools For Content Marketers To Make Your Content Unique" (courtesy Jeff Bullas) to "8 Free Budget Templates To Help Guide Your Marketing Spend." Whether you're looking for guidance on SEO, SEM or just free tips on building engaging content - Sam. Is. Your. Guy.

10) Jeremy Darlow: The title of Head of Brand and Digital Marketing at Adidas should give you ample insight into the extraordinary extent of his creative element. Best-selling author of the acclaimed "Brands Win Championships," Jeremy is what I'd refer to as a social media gentleman. While his content is sports-slanted and athletically focused, his constant engagement with his fan base is not only impressive but refreshingly praiseworthy. From moving the conversation from culture to teamwork or brand strategy to product launch hype (Adidas cleats of course), Jeremy Darlow is genuinely promoting and celebrating the words of others who celebrate him. The funny thing is, you can't help but latch on to what he has to say, particularly because he's showing the world how branding can affect everything at any given point in time while still being unbelievably human.