How To Use Twitter To Land An Interview With David Frost

A few months ago, I flew into London to give a talk at the Handheld Learning Conference, which had put me up at the Hoxton Hotel. I'd arrived late at night, and when I woke up, I realized that, for the first time in my life, I was waking up in London with no clear idea what neighborhood I was in. That seemed like precisely the kind of observation/query to share with the Twittersphere, and so I jotted down this tweet before heading out to find a coffee:

Waking up at the Hoxton Hotel in London --- strangely unclear as to what neighborhood I'm actually in...

When I came back from coffee, I discovered, first, from a batch of Twitter replies that I was apparently in the neighborhood where half my London friends lived and worked. And then I noticed the envelope that had been placed on my desk. I opened it up, and it turned out to be a note from a producer who worked with Sir David Frost. They had noticed on Twitter that I was in London, and said they were very interested in having me talk with Sir David about Everything Bad Is Good For You for his show on English-language Al Jazeera.

This was cool for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that it has given me to the opportunity to tell people, ad nauseum, that David Frost is following me on Twitter. (Even if it's not exactly true.)

Anyhow, we ended up having to do the interview by satellite, unfortunately, but the good news was that we got to talk about the new book instead (with a bit at the end about pop culture.) It aired over the weekend, and is now on the YouTubes. You can see it for yourself in the clip below -- I come on about halfway through. I look a little pained at the outset because I was straining to hear him on the earpiece, but I think it worked out all right, and he was very flattering in the intro. Talk about baptism by fire: the very first interview I did for Invention of Air was with David Frost. And I have Twitter to thank for it!

Comments

[DrV (@doctor_v)]

Great story on the utility of Twitter. I don't have quite as many followers so I'm not sure my response to a query would be so robust. Loved Ghost Maps.

[michael]

Serendipity doesn't quite cover it! Thanks for a great example of real-world implications. Oddly enough, I'm in a running conversation right now championing usage. Lots of people still out there scratching their heads and wondering just what this thing is all about.

[Mark Sullivan]

That is a lovely example of Twitterization. I'll admit I'm still at the learning stage - the doubting stage. I'm basically at the *Twit* stage. But the geo-logic of that is pretty amazing.

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love the books, obviously (I'll add as this is my first comment)

[Lemon]

I eagerly await the award winning film of 2020 Frost/Johnson

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Mr. Johnson. There is a typo on page 20 of Invention of Air.

A reference to Priestly saying it occurred in 1850

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