Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The Power of Twitter

Have you been following the Olympics? The news program I am watching at night to catch up on the results of the day seems to be fixated with Twitter. Every night there is an update on how many more followers the major athletes have accumulated on Twitter. There are even arguments going on between athletes via Twitter. Amazing. So what is this communication tool?

Twitter
http://www.twitter.com

Oh, the wonderful world of Twitter. Did you know that when the earthquake happened here in the Washington region last summer, it was in the papers the next day, on the news that evening, and on twitter 6 seconds later? Twitter is the immediate, real-time micro-blog platform that has taken the entire world by storm. It consists of bite-sized posts about anything and everything. Posts are limited to 140 characters so it’s challenging to find the most effective ways of condensing what you need to say…but I’m always up for a challenge.

Learning how to tweet is like learning another language. There are hashtags (huh?) and RTs (what?) and while it will all seem overwhelming, I promise it gets better with practice.

There was a neat instance where our marketing manager attended a charity ball in DC and live-tweeted (tweeting while you’re at the event) a photo of her with a few mom bloggers she invited. A few moments after posting the pic to Twitter, a veterinarian (who also happened to be the host of Channel 8’s The Pet Show) tweeted/responded, gushing about the charity venue. After conversing back and forth, she invited us to be a part of her TV Show and offer tips on Family Pet Rules (see the tips and segment here: http://www.washingtonfamily.com/page/pet-owner-rules-for-kids) It is truly amazing to learn this medium and watch how it works its magic!

For more information about twitter, check out this great article from Mashable: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter and follow the magazine online at https://twitter.com/FamilyMagDC.

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