David Pogue shares his hilarious Twitter conversion

At Ragan/Coca-Cola event, N.Y. Times’ tech maven recounts his journey—then sings (no, REALLY!)

Speed + ego — privacy = Twitter

That’s the formula David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times, gives for describing Twitter.

During Ragan’s third annual Social Media for Communicators conference at Coca-Cola Co. headquarters in Atlanta yesterday, Pogue says he first resisted Twitter but soon embraced the social media tool.

But his Twitter journey got off to a false start. One day, a stranger came up to him and said he loved his Twitter feed.

Pogue wasn’t on Twitter.

No matter. Turned out, faux-Pogue had amassed 500 followers with the handle @DavidPogue. The impostor had been tweeting as Pogue for six months.

“I had no idea, but I was lucky. At least he wasn’t saying, ‘Just had sex with a sheep,’” Pogue says, with a laugh.

He shut down the account and signed up as @Pogue.

During his keynote presentation, he talked about how he warmed up to the site. His family got a hot-air balloon ride from a follower in California. Then, when he needed actors for a CNBC video, he sent out a request to his followers—and 30 people sent in their resumes.