Twitter, the social media site that has exploded in popularity in the last year, is helping to add longer life to this year's International Christian Retail Show (ICRS), not only providing connection points for attendees, but also opening up the dialogue and the show to those who did not attend.

Days after ICRS ended, Twitter posts are still appearing from those in the Christian retail industry, sharing news and observations from the show. They include Christian Small Publishers' Association (CSPA) President Sarah Bolme reporting on the group's Publishers' Institute in Denver, which she said "had great information for publishers. The audio download is coming soon. Watch for it."

Personal connections were also made through social media at the event. Gunnar Simonsen, general manager of the Christian Supply Centers in the Pacific Northwest, who spoke of the importance of social media to Christian retailers in an ICRS presentation, wrote during the week, "Interesting #icrs fact... I met more new people this year because of Twitter than all of the years I have attended this event."

Simonsen took part in a Tweet Up on the exhibit floor Wednesday, organized by Isaac Fineman, director of Disciple Like Jesus, and attracting a cross-section of retailers, authors and suppliers.

Retailers and suppliers interested in a collection of the week's "Tweets" can visit www.Twitter.com and enter the search "ICRS." Christian Retailing also sent news throughout the week via Twitter. Those posts and more can be found at http://twitter.com/christianretail.

A list of authors and publishers on Twitter has also been collected at www.christianbookvideos.com/browse/crosstweet/ and at http://wefollow.com/twitter/ecpa.

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