Don’t Ask, Do Twitter - February 26th, 2010
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Don’t Ask, Do Twitter
While the military is struggling to deal with the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of discriminating against gay service members, the generals apparently have had time to make other important decisions about the safety of the nation. Namely, our men and women in uniform are now officially allowed to tweet. According to an article from Reuters, the Pentagon has announced that soldiers can go ahead and use social media sites because the benefits outweigh security concerns. Just as long as they don’t tweet anything about cute members of the same sex!
What makes Twitter so powerful? Dating and relationship blogger Nando Rodriguez points out this week that while A-list celebrities can get away with tweeting about themselves non-stop, the rest of us need a different strategy. Engaging with people means actually taking time to respond to what others are tweeting about, and creating a conversation instead of a monologue. There are truly ways in which Twitter can change people’s lives. In fact, in his blog this week he links to a video where he and others jumped to the aid of a suicidal gay teen. Just don’t tell the Pentagon!
When social media aficionados start talking, you’d be excused for thinking that for them, the entire universe revolves around tapping out short messages on a keyboard. But the greatest proof of the medium’s power is when all those messages cause something to happen. For example, take the launch of the Madison Social Media Club this week. The MSMC got its start when a group of thought leaders started connecting with one another online to create a support network for professionals who want to learn more about social media. Their message was so effective that when they decided it was time to have a “live event” they packed a room with over 125 interested people - on their very first try. (Full disclosure — I’m one of their bloggers. Still, I had a blast meeting people in person).
For a long time, the forwarding of tweet messages has been a badge of respectability for many would-be Twitter experts. The idea being that when you RT (retweet) a link or message from another person, you’re “sharing and caring.” But as will happen with these new media, far too often people are getting it wrong. In their eagerness to come up with enough forwardable material, they aren’t always vetting the links that they’re sending out to their fans. Which is why this week I had a message from New MediaScape about Twitter best practices whose RT link ended up sending me to a spam site. Oh the irony.. |
