There are all kind of people on Twitter. Many take the names of famous people and twitter as them. With more and more celebrities joining Twitter, it has become sometimes hard to figure out which is the real person. So when I got this tweet from “The Real Shaq” I was dubious.

I immediately figured this was some kid joking around, so I blocked the account and went on with my life. After all, I don’t know Shaq and I certainly didn’t send him any pictures. The next day I get an email from a writer at a real estate trade pub in Seattle asking for an interview about social media and real estate. After the interiew I ask her where she found me and not to my surprise she says Twitter and then this blog. Then she asks me if I have heard of “The Real Shaq” on Twitter. I relay the story of the odd Twitter of the past day and she tells me that no, in fact, this really is Shaquille O’Neal. It turns out two bloggers from Phoenix found him out one day and confirmed the account is his. This is how she found me on Twitter; because she was following The_Real_Shaq.

The results of this mis-tweet: With over 100,000 followers, alot of people saw my name pop up on their radar. I got an interview as a social media expert. My followers on Twitter jumped dramatically in just two days. I also added several LinkedIn connections and picked up many new readers to the blog. Many more people who did not know I was a social media professional now do. That’s all good, all due to the Shaq Effect.