How Twitter Can Make You A Better Person...

The follow was recently posted by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com, on his blog. If you're a Twitter user (like me), or a participant on any social network, I'm thinking you'll find Tony's post an interesting read.

I thought this would be an opportune time to write about a topic that I've been thinking a lot about over the past few months: how Twitter has contributed to my own personal growth and made me a better person, and how you can take the same principles and apply them to yourself if you'd like.

I've talked a lot in the past about how we've used Twitter at Zappos for building more personal connections with both our employees and our customers. In fact, we recently debuted on Fortune Magazine's annual "100 Best Companies To Work For" list, and they began and ended the article talking about our use of Twitter to build more personal connections with people. That in itself is its own reward that has both personal and business benefits, but for this blog post, I wanted to share my stories and thoughts on how Twitter has helped me grow personally.

For me, it comes down to these four things:

1. Transparency & Values: Twitter constantly reminds me of who I want to be, and what I want Zappos to stand for.
2. Reframing Reality: Twitter encourages me to search for ways to view reality in a funnier and/or more positive way.
3. Helping Others: Twitter makes me think about how to make a positive impact on other people's lives.
4. Gratitude: Twitter helps me notice and appreciate the little things in life.

The great thing about all four of these things is that not only have they helped me grow as a person, but they've also led to me being generally happier in life.