As the Liberal Democrat Voice Awards ceremony draws rapidly closer, my mind is drawn to the question of what makes an effective user of Twitter.
Now I've had a Twitter account for a while, which I use to broadcast my increasingly infrequent blog postings and, from time to time, respond to something on my timeline that intrigues me. Mostly, I use it to receive information from organisations that I interact with (local council, Greater Anglia, the Party, local Liberal Democrats) and things I have an interest in. But I'm not what you'd call terribly active.
My life is not especially interesting, my opinions neither radical or unique, and I find it difficult to exchange views in 140 characters or less - I find soundbites to be a bit unsatisfying. I don't do public displays of passion, nor am I prone to extremes - life is too complex for that.
So, can I use Twitter more effectively? Can I, for example, entertain? Educate?
* wanders off to reflect *
My view is that it's called social media because it expects you to be social. Converse, joke, share. Pass on links to stuff you found interesting. Interevene in arguments with your famed reasonableness. Be YOU.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is if you view twitter as an entity, when what it actually is is a tool to talk to people who are currently geographically difficult to talk to.