I own a rental property and recently stopped over to paint and clean before the next tenants move in. When I opened the door, a gust of cigarette smoke hit me. Being a non-smoker, I immediately started worrying how I was going to get such an overwhelming scent out of the house. I opened windows, but that wasn’t enough.
I turned to Twitter and asked how to get the smoke smell out of our rental property. I got over a dozen responses from people who gave be very helpful, practical, and specific advice. Only one mentioned a product by name, but didn’t offer to sell me the product. I learned about the chemical composition of cigarette tar and smoke residue, and why it’s so difficult to eliminate. I tried several of the ideas, and guess what? It worked.
Granted removing some old carpet and repainting the walls helped considerably, but without my followers on Twitter, I wouldn’t have all that help at my fingertips.
Do you have a Twitter story? Add a comment below to start the conversation….
I am President and Chief Evangelist for Vivid Image - a web design and social marketing firm located outside of Minneapolis, MN. 
I would suggest adding a couple drops of either lavender, lemon or peppermint essential oil to the paint when you apply the new coat. It will mask the smell even more and bring out a refreshing scent! If you need essential oils, let me know……..I place an order every month. You will be able to use any of the above mentioned oils for multiple other things also, so the bottle won’t be wasted.
If there is still some carpeting that needs cleaning, add 10-15 drops of lemon essntial oil to each gallon of carpet cleaning solution to help pull out the stains, freshen and brighten the rug.
Great story on the power of crowdsourcing. Here’s mine in relation to Twitter.
Around this time last year (2008) there was a pretty big gasoline shortage. Because of regulations and logistics, metro Atlanta was hit even harder than most other areas. As a result the local twitter folks created and used a hashtag (#ATLGas). If you were a twitter follower, you could reliably find gas at the cheapest prices. The tag is still in use and a local radio station tweets daily gas prices and locations still.