Twitter: The First Stop for Real-Time Anything
Twitter was born in 2006. Not even five years old, it continues to revolutionize how information is disseminated and stories are told. I dipped my toe in the Twittersphere back in September 2009. I read books about it, tried writing essays in 140 characters or less, and I liked it. I’m still learning. It seems the rest of the world also continues to adapt Twitter-telling to their experiences. There have been some great examples of this in recent months.
During Vancouver’s Winter Olympics there were various impersonal Twitter accounts that provided regular updates about activities and social events happening in the city. I used them little, but my favourite Olympic tweeter was @ApoloOhno, the Seattle speed skater who tweeted through the ups and downs of his Olympic experience. The intimacy of Apolo Anton Ohno’s Twitter feed gave you a perspective not available through any mainstream media outlet.
The portrayal of the G20 summit weekend in the media was quite interesting. Generally, mainstream media focused on the destruction of private property during the summit and praised the police action. Live tweets from people who were on the ground during the unrest gave a completely different perspective. The tweets provided the unfolding story from those experiencing the event. If you were following the news using hashtags, you’d find live data streams on #G20, #G20report and#G20mobilize. Several Toronto Star reporters tweeted live from the streets.
This summer, the Globe and Mail arts section used real-time tweet updates from concerts. Western arts correspondent @MarshaLederman posted dozens of tweets from the Lilith Fair concert in West Vancouver in July. Her article that ran in the paper a few days following the concert was good, but by that time it was already ancient news.
Globe Arts contributor Brad Wheeler – who tweets via @BWheelerglobe – was at the Air Canada Centre to review Paul McCartney’s concert in Toronto on Sunday, August 8th. I read his review on Tuesday, August 10th but could have read his real-time tweets from the concert to get an of-the-moment feel for the performance. While reading tweets may not exactly put you at the concert, getting short news updates as the story unfolds in an intimate and informal style brings you that much closer to the real thing.
Our PR services at Peak Communicators were enhanced by the addition of a social media division exactly one year ago this month. Peak, one of Vancouver’s top ten PR firms, has used Twitter and a wide range of other social media tools to further the communications objectives of dozens of clients. Business applications for using Twitter, blogs and other social technologies are expanding day by day. The social media world is in its infancy. I bet it has a long life ahead of it.
