The Jimmy Fallon Special

Dear Readers,

This week, I met Jimmy Fallon. Now, being a New Yorker, I rarely mention celebrity spottings because, well, it's just not a New York thing to do. But I have been pretty vocal about the fact that I met Jimmy Fallon by posting it on Twitter and Facebook.

So why is Jimmy so special? Well it's because in a way, he's not. I mean he's special. If you meet him, you'll see he's a truly special guy. He's authentic. He's genuine. He's nice...really talented, smart and truly funny.

The reason why I've been less than 'New York' about my meeting Jimmy is because he's become a buddy. Not a "hey can you come over and help me move?" buddy. Not even a "Margaritas tonight? Meet me us at 9" kind of buddy. More like a Social Media Buddy. Jimmy's my buddy on Twitter. Which is more meaningful, frankly, than him being my friend on Facebook.

For a few months, Jimmy's been following me on Twitter, and I've been following him.

In March, Jimmy showed my Tweets on his blackberry on The Today Show. When I Direct Messaged him a "Thank You! Even my stepmom called me Florida to say she saw it," he replied "Awesome!"

It was kinda awesome, Jimmy.

Then my friends from Mashable.com told me they got tickets to see Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and asked me to come along. When I told Jimmy I was coming to the show, he immediately connected me with his team so that I could meet him afterwards. (The team was great, by the way!)

And that's when we met. We shook hands at first. Then a few minutes later, Jimmy hugged me and said... "I feel like we've known each other - like we're buddies!" He was right. At that moment, I forgot I was hugging the host of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Or the star of Fever Pitch with Drew Barrymore. Or the anchor for Weekend Update on SNL. In that moment, he was the guy I Tweet and DM who I finally met In Real Life. It felt like it does whenever you meet a Social Media Buddy in real life.

I have a lot of respect for Jimmy. He's using social media not only strategically, but authentically. There's no way he can become 'buddies' with 800,000 Followers. But with the people he connects with, he really connects.

I have no idea why Jimmy follows me on Twitter. I'm not even sure Jimmy knows anymore. But I'm glad he does.

Because Jimmy Fallon's a really special guy. IRL.

xoxo,
Auntie Melanie

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is up for a Webby Award! You can vote in the People's Voice portion of the awards at http://pv.webbyawards.com/ Late Night is under > Online Film and Video > Variety

SavvyAuntie.com is also nominated for a Webby Award for Best Family/Parenting site! Go to: http://pv.webbyawards.com/ and click on Websites > Living > Family/Parenting.

The Webby's People's Voice voting ends on April 30th, 2009.

Thank you!