A Twitter success tale that doesn't involve a get rich quick pitch

Still wondering about this Twitter thing.

Mark Schaefer, a Knoxville marketing guy who's developed an expertise in the emerging social media marketing area, has parlayed Twitter into more publicity than his marketing budget could buy - by well over 1,000 percent by my conservative reckoning.

Schaefer developed a professional relationship through Twitter than led to him being interviewed as social media expert in a recent Forbes article and being quoted in the same piece as social media expert Chris Brogan and Comcast's uber customer service rep Frank Eliason.

He tells the story in a blog post. (My own first contact with Schaefer was on Twitter.) No matter how smart or talented he is,it's unlikely he would have developed such a national profile without Twitter.

Now, that can't be bad for business. Might there just be something to this social media stuff beside Facebook quizzes and "get hundreds of followers" pitches?