As many of you know, Motivators is rather active on Twitter. We've got several accounts which you can follow including:

@MotivatorsPP the official Motivators twitter account which boasts sales, email blasts, news and a feed of our Alot More Than Just Promos blog

@MotivatorsStaff the behind the scenes twitter account, usually tweeted by me, occasionally Anthony and sometimes Jenn. The daily goings on in the Motivators offices and a feed of this blog.

@GoGreenBlog the environmental side of Motivators, with a feed of the Motivators Go Green Blog as well as newsworthy environmental tweets.

@MotivatorsTV tweeted mostly by Anthony (occasionally I chime in as well) with updates of all things TV, several things LOST, and a feed of the Motivators TV blog.

@tradeshowblog a feed of the Motivators trade show blog as well as tips about trade show preparation.

So yeah, we tweet. We're tweeters. And I occasionally talk about random goings on in the office, like this one:

"Need to know how to get the Motivators Staff in a tizzy? Throw a potluck party. Rush orders we can handle, an office potluck is like chaos"

And this:

"Got samples of the elephant poo paper in the office. First thing everyone did was smell them & say, "Hey it doesn't smell like poop!"

Occasionally people will respond to these, especially our industry friends who also work in offices and share the same type of issues. But the one tweet that seemed to get everyone interested was posted so long ago, I'm not even going to look for it, but I do remember what it said:

"Apparently every single department in here decided they needed microwave popcorn. The office reeks of buttery goodness."

This earned us a new follower by the name of @garrettpopcorn, a Chicago based popcorn store. We got many more Chicago based followers that day, all thanks to Garrett and that was awesome. But little did I know that one follower would eventually lead to me taking some non-twitter related action.

You see, every day Garrett Popcorn tweets about their specials, and they constantly interact with their followers and fans. Because if you've had Garrett Popcorn, you're addicted to it. It's that simple. I, myself had never had it but as I'd scroll through my daily tweets to see what was going on in the world of promotional products, I'd come across tweets about cheesy fingers and see the words like "needing a fix." I began to think that maybe one of their special toppings was crack because from what I could tell people sure did like this stuff.

After about 2 weeks of popcorn related tweets being infused into my life like the caffeine IV I wish they'd invent to give me my daily fix, I realized that I simply had to have some. Now I could have solved my problem and just gone to garrettpopcorn.com and ordered some, since they do online orders, but they do have a NY store and it's right next to Penn Station. Quel convenient for me, considering the fact when I go to the city, I take the LIRR. I thought my jonesing would be satisfied when Keri and I headed to go see Mark Harmon on the View on October 27, but he cancelled and Keri and I simply took a mental health day: popcorn fail.

And knowing that twitter is all about the conversation, one day I decided to tweet @garretpopcorn and tell them that I was looking forward to trying their stuff. It started a whole conversation with them and I was told to say Hi to Russ at the NY store. Apparently, Russ is not on twitter and is slightly perturbed by the whole service, so telling him I was from twitter might freak him out. I was totally down for freaking out a complete stranger over social media tools that not everyone understands. This made me want to go to GP even more.

Finally, I did. This past Saturday Jenn and I attended a conference in the city, and afterwards we headed to Garrett Popcorn. We were bogged down by promotional bags filled with promotional items from our seminar. We'd each been up since about 6am,  (impressive considering the fact that it was a Saturday) and by the time we headed there it was approximately 6:30PM. But we got out of our cab in the pouring rain and Jenn asked, "Hey are you gonna do your popcorn thing?" She gladly came with and after 3 blocks and several puddles, we arrived at the destination that had been tweeting at me for months.

The store itself was bright and bustling. Clearly the rain doesn't deter people from getting their fix, because the line was almost out the door. Jenn and I stood, admiring the bright blue tins that adorned the shop. We stared at the menu and I decided on a medium butter popcorn (I'm a classic kinda gal) and Jenn went for a medium Chicago Mix (cheese popcorn mixed with carmel popcorn). When I approached the register, I finally caved and asked if Russ was there. The cashier smiled and said "No, he's not here today. Are you from twitter?" Clearly, this guise has been pulled before. I replied that I was, that I loved tweeting back and forth with the Blue Tin and that this was my first time. The young cashier handed me back my card and said, "Well thank you Miss Shepherd. Enjoy!"

It's amazing how simple a little politeness can go, but that little gesture really made the experience even more grand. And as I made my way down to the train, with my bag imprinted with the words Greedy Goblin, I couldn't help but think that this popcorn had to be a let down. Surely, it couldn't be that good.

Boy, was I wrong. I ate the entire bag on the train. I got buttery hands which seriously hindered my texting abilities for the night's events. But I just couldn't stop eating it. Eventually, I gave up texting completely and focused on my popcorn. The plans could wait. As far as Jenn's Chicago mix was concerned, apparently her family ate it up like monsters. This morning, via IM she recounted to me the story of how she almost offered some to a grumpy looking old man on the train because once she had tasted it, she knew it could make anyone happy. Alas, the old man pulled out a bag of trans fat free pretzels and she kept her Chicago mix to herself. Until...she got home and she offered it to her family. They ate it all!

So bravo to Twitter and @garrettpopcorn for being so attentive that they didn't just make me eat their product, they made me get addicted to it. Now I'm going to get back to work and try and convince myself that I don't need a 2 gallon tin of popcorn simply because they're offering promotional t-shirts with it. I mean, I don't right? But then again if it stayed fresh, I'd have snack food for November sweeps...

P.S: Twitter is also great for sharing ideas...like bacon flavored popcorn or a custom New Kids on the Block tin. Note, while they scream "Sarah" all over them neither of those were my ideas. I would vote for an NKOTB tin with bacon, cheese and butter mix though. It'd be like a baked potato wrapped in my favorite 80s boy band!