“A Day in the Life” is a series where we’ll profile a variety of residents to get an intimate glimpse into their day-to-day. These are your neighbors. Get to know them.
Who is @BostonTweet? Chances are you follow him on Twitter, read his latest Boston updates and maybe even tweet at him yourself. But do you know the man behind one of Boston’s most followed Twitter accounts? With over 98 thousand followers, Tom O’Keefe has transformed his Twitter handle into a household Hub name. But besides imbibing, eating burritos and hitting the town an awful lot, how does he spend his typical day? I decided to find out – but this time he had more than 140 characters.
How do you spend most mornings?
My mornings are all about finding content for BostonTweet, and working off what I ate and drank the night before. First thing I do is scour Twitter and local blogs for interesting and/or quirky Boston news to tweet about. I spend a lot of time searching for neighborhood keywords on Twitter in hopes of finding a great lead or picture. Boston-based CO Everywhere has made this a lot easier for me since I can actually draw a polygon around the exact streets that I want to view all the social media from, rather than trying to guess what words people in those neighborhoods are tweeting.
After the day is mapped out I spend about an hour in the morning working off the burritos and beers from the night before so I don’t wake up 500 pounds heavier.
What are the top priorities on your to-do list right now?
I sort of have three jobs. The first one is of course BostonTweet, and the other two are Swipely and CO Everywhere. Over the years I’ve worked with a number of startups (Groupon, Where, Pingup) to help them build awareness and make connections in Boston. Right now my daily priorities focus on keeping abreast of Boston news as BostonTweet, connecting with local business about Swipely, and generating ideas, content and downloads for CO Everywhere.
I also spend a significant amount of time enjoying life in Boston – that’s probably my top priority.
What is the worst part and the best part about your typical day in Boston?
The worst part of my day is getting up in the morning, but once I accomplish that difficult task the rest of my day is pretty damn awesome. Life is good. I get to tweet about a city that I love and things that I love to do in that city. I can’t complain.
One of my favorite things to do is hide prizes in the city. I often hide Anna’s Taqueria coupons in the city and then tweet a picture of that coupon for the first person to find it. I love the randomness of the giveaway and I love that my followers get very competitive and often run to win. In most cases the prizes are claimed in under 10 minutes so you have to run fast if you want to win.
If you could relive one event or one meal in Boston, what would it be?
The 2004 World Series. That was an amazing experience. After 86 years no one in Boston truly believed the Sox would win again, but when they did the city was buzzing like I’ve never experienced it before. It was amazing. For all those not in attendance for 2004 (or 2007) hopefully we can once again enjoy the taste of victory in October 2013.
What would you do if you were suddenly granted a day off from work (or tweeting) tomorrow?
I always dream about what it would be like to ditch my iPhone/computer for a weekend and be digital/tweet free for 48 hours. It would be fun to try and make plans with my friends without texting or DMing them. I would be forced to actually talk to them on the rotary telephone beforehand to schedule a time and place to meet – most likely Eastern Standard. If I wanted to change plans at the last minute, say meet at JM Curley instead, I would be forced to risk my health by using one of the ten public pay phones in Boston. Sounds like an awesome night.
What’s one TV show you can’t live without right now?
Over the last year I’ve become quite obsessed with Scandal. Olivia Pope. Oh my.
If you could impart one piece of advice on our readers (or to your over 98k twitter followers), what would it be?
I’m not a huge fan of giving advice since I’ve had my generous helping of failures, which I guess is advice in-and-of itself: Stick with what you believe in because if you don’t believe in yourself then no one else will. However, when it comes to marketing I always say know your demographics inside and out – it’s not rocket science. And when it comes to life you have to love what you do, because only God knows when your time is up.
If you weren’t answering my questions, what would you be doing instead?
Tweeting
Think you have an interesting day-to-day life or know someone who does? Send an email to marian
