Why #Austin's Brady Smith (@texeyes) Deserves a Mashable Award

There are many reasons why I chose to nominate Brady Smith for a Mashable award. The first thing that comes to mind is the excellent example he sets for others in terms of online courtesy. He is a gentleman, always willing to lend a helping hand. Brady is thoughtful, often sharing links with folks seeking information via Twitter.

Brady is undoubtedly Texan and proud of his state as any real Texas native would be. @texeyes represents all the positive aspects of the Twitterverse. He is a mentor to me, father to two daughters, husband to a school teacher and caring Austin resident. Our friendship has grown from a simple Twitter connection.

When I began using Twitter it was another world. There were mysterious abbreviations, weird customs and "twitterspeak" to learn. In short, Twitter was confusing. There did not appear to be any clear cut instructions. Users were expected to figure out how to use the service by trial and error. I made a lot of errors.

Not long after that, I decided to look for local Twitter users in the local, Austin community. One of the first Twitter accounts I found belonged to this guy who called himself, texeyes. I thought the handle was slick. So was his avatar (see above). I followed. He sent me a DM (direct message) that read something like, "Send me back a relevant reply or I'll think you're a bot and unfollow you."

I did not know what to make of that, so I responded that I had recently joined Twitter and did not know what the hell I was doing. His response was instant. "Oh, you're an Austinite. Cool. I'll be happy to help you out if you need." or something to that effect. He became my Twitter guru. He had a lot of followers. Brady seemed to know his way around the interwebs. His website is clever. He helps whoever asks. He asks nothing in return. He demonstrates good Twitter values.

Brady Smith deserves to be given an award for his activities. He's made many people happy by posting amazing concert videos, sharing links and photos of nearly everything you could imagine. Brady promotes and volunteers for charities like Meals on Wheels which he has delivered food for, tweeted for and promoted online. He inspired me to get involved. Brady is the kind of personality every Twitter user should follow. Seriously.

Click on the Mashable button below and nominate @texeyes for Must-Follow Personality. I did. Twice. Please share this link with your friends.

http://mashable.com/awards/votes?c=36&v=%40texeyes