Maybe you use Twitter, maybe you don’t. Either way, though, you probably have an opinion about the idea of sending out and receiving 140-character messages off and on all day. Up until recently, my opinion has been this: Twitter’s not for me. What could be the value in a barrage of banal 140-character updates?
But I kept hearing and reading that it was a good tool for small business. So, owning a business that caters to small businesses, I decided to try it for two weeks. At the very least, I’d get this column out of it! So, I created my account.
I didn’t see any Tweets at first, because I wasn’t following anybody. So, I went to some websites I like, and clicked that button I’ve always avoided: “Follow Us on Twitter.” I set up follows for a few friends, small business experts, and, okay, maybe a couple of woo-woo types who help women find their authentic empty-nest selves. I added members of an online business forum I’m part of, and I set up a follow for the main charity we support, Partners in Health.
So, I had myself a Twitter stream, with new tweets appearing at the top and the old tweets flowing down and out. My incoming stream was a blend of information, motivation, and “what I had for lunch” tweets, all filled with links, since everyone on Twitter is promoting their followers in a giant circle of backscratching. It all seemed harmless, mildly entertaining, potentially useful.
Then, the earthquake in Haiti happened. And because of my Partners in Health follow, my stream was peppered with PIH’s suddenly frequent tweets. Already at work in Haiti for 20+ years, the organization was on the scene from the first tremor, and their tweets were shocking, grave, horrible.
And yet, it was business as usual for the rest of the Twitter stream. Interspersed with PIH’s 140-character missives of suffering, death, and pleas for assistance was all the usual Twit-chat:
How to Mind Map Your Way Through Stuckness
People are kind, calm, generous to others even with hundreds lying on the ground, open fractures, massive injuries.
I love clever ideas. Get a variety of your own business cards – each with a unique graphic on them. A deck of cards!
Running low on antibiotics, anesthesia, narcotics, water. Need x-ray & anesthesia machines & medical supplies.
A virtual equation for determining the effectiveness of your sales tactics
Haiti clinical director: “PaP is devastated… Temporary field hospital needs supplies… Please help us.”
The juxtaposition was unnerving. The threading of tragedy with cheerful commerce was enough to make me want to either unfollow Partners in Health, or unfollow everyone *but* PIH.
Then, my two-week Twitter test was over. And my trial left me with more questions than answers. My heart is heavy with Haiti, but by next month, this column will be as cheery as those silly tweets I quoted above. It will have to be, because that’s how we humans cope when disaster strikes elsewhere and we just don’t know what else we can do, other than donate what the budget allows. Unless you know something else we can do? If so, let us know.
And as always, thank you so much for reading Our Town.