Edina Resident Tweets Her Way to the White House

It's safe to say Katie Little did not expect to share Tweets with President Barack Obama when she first started using the social networking service.

As fate would have it, the 27-year-old Edina resident scored an audience with the President earlier this month, when she was selected as one of 36 Twitter users to take part in the first-ever White House Tweetup. Little recently sat down for a Twitter-based Q&A session with Edina Patch, dishing on everything from her local roots to advice for people not quite sure how to break into Twitter.

EdinaPatch: Could you tell us a bit about yourself? I believe you're an #Edina HS grad. How might locals know you?

KT_Little: I graduated in 2002 from - i was really known as being quiet n part of the international club

EdinaPatch: Social media wasn't quite as big of a deal back then, but were you always into technology?

KT_Little: yes I've been online since 13 part of the AOL days. 

EdinaPatch: And I have to ask, what does one do as part of the international club?

KT_Little: I hosted a few exchange students during high school 

EdinaPatch: How long has your family been living in #Edina? Siblings?

KT_Little: no siblings - I moved here from lake nakomis area at 10 months so my parents haven't moved since

EdinaPatch: And so you graduated from #Edina HS in 2002. Where did things go from there?

KT_Little: I enrolled at @AugsburgCollege fall 02' - graduated may 06' then worked in corporate America for 3 1/2 years

KT_Little: then September 09' I attend graduate school at York st John university in England

EdinaPatch: A world traveler. What did you study?

KT_Little: at @AugsburgCollege I majored in communications and in York I got my MA in Leadership and Management

EdinaPatch: And when did #Twitter first make an appearance in your life? College? Post college?

KT_Little: post grad actually I wrote a dissertation on social media and leadership. I conducted my research via surveys on twitter

KT_Little: I started tweeting march of last year actually - @craigbutters actually introduced me to it.

EdinaPatch: What did you find through your research? Anything particularly fascinating?

KT_Little: I can't remember but I was really impressed with the responses - I would send a survey out and they would share n so on

EdinaPatch: So did the research get you more into #twitter or vice-versa?

KT_Little: very! Once I conducted more research I was able to communicate w more TC peeps and that's how I landed my job w @SocialNicole

EdinaPatch: Jumping back a little bit, what was your initial impression of social media/twitter? How has that changed?

KT_Little: I've always been a fan of it starting from chat rooms on AOL to Facebook time period. It's a great way to communicate with peopl

EdinaPatch: How did the opportunity to take part in the #WHtweetup come about?

KT_Little: I like to be politically aware - and I follow @whitehouse - so end of June they had a form to sign up for a chance for an invite

EdinaPatch: And you were among how many guests for the first #WHtweetup?

KT_Little: 36 I didn't know I would be selected

EdinaPatch: Was it random drawing or did you have to go through any sort of vetting process?

KT_Little: I guess it was random they also asked for a reason in 140 characters why we wanted to go

EdinaPatch: Must've been a good reason. What was yours?

KT_Little: I wanted to find out how the @whitehouse utilizes social media as president Obama is really our first president using technology

EdinaPatch: That's a good one. Was this your first time to visit the @whitehouse?

KT_Little: yes - 2nd time to Washington DC

EdinaPatch: How long were you there as part of the #WHtweetup?

KT_Little: actually the afternoon on 7/6 - also the day before twitter peeps were invited to take a tour of the @whitehouse

EdinaPatch: What were a few highlights from this trip? Take a few tweets if necessary.

KT_Little: 1) being very spontaneous as I had like only 3 days before I left - so I stayed in a youth hostel which was great and $ saver

KT_Little: shaking Obama's hand when he entered the East wing

KT_Little: meeting so many new people

EdinaPatch: Did you have any opportunities to ask ?s or were you just there to take it all in?

KT_Little: I only had my iPod touch n that just works mainly on wifi - and there really wasn't any wifi at the WH

EdinaPatch: Oh no! Was it kind of odd to be in same room as @BarackObama, but people were mainly focused on their smart phones/tablets?

KT_Little: yes but I feel like my time was really amazing

EdinaPatch: I suppose, not having iPod touch almost freed you from the tech. Just got to enjoy the moment.

KT_Little: very much so

EdinaPatch: What do you think about @BarackObama being so open to utilizing new communications platforms?

KT_Little: I think it's great. Way to engage and hear from citizens about their concerns

EdinaPatch: Did you take anything in particular away from your time at the #WHtweetup? Lessons learned?

KT_Little: yes I wanna go back! Just to keep staying aware politically - anything and everything affects us

EdinaPatch: Ha. How did the nature of it being a #tweetup impact the experience?

KT_Little: the nature was exciting because I met people from all over the US a surreal experience

EdinaPatch: Will you be taking part in or hosting any local #tweetups as a result?

KT_Little: yes I would really love tht

EdinaPatch: OK. We're closing in on an hour now so we can start wrapping things up. Any other aspects of the #WHtweetup we haven't hit on?

KT_Little: I don't think so - I'm just really happy to have gone.

EdinaPatch: It sounds like an amazing experience. What would you say to people who don't use social media?

KT_Little: they are really missing out especially job seekers

EdinaPatch: What's your advice to people new to the medium? Any beginner tips?

KT_Little: embrace it - engage with people. Share content and don't be scared

EdinaPatch: Sound advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me and good luck on making it back to another #WHtweetup.

KT_Little: thank so much!!! I had a blast