# 3415
I am, admittedly, a social media failure. It probably has to do with my age (I’m 55).
Oh, I have (and use) a twitter account (Fla_Medic), I’ve a badly neglected Facebook presence (who has time? I don’t), and I use Skype and email to chat and talk to a number of people around the world every day.
I guess that puts me ahead of a small number of people living in yurts in Outer Mongolia, but its a far cry from being on the bleeding edge of technology like I was during the 1980s and 1990s when I was a computer consultant/programmer.
It always seemed extraordinarily unfair that I could learn and become reasonably proficient in a dozen computer programming languages over the years, only to see them obsolete about the time I got the hang of using them.
Perhaps if I were a quicker study . . . but I digress . . .
I was dragged kicking and screaming into twitter back in January (see Life Is Tweet), and at the time, had no idea whether I would stick with it.
It has proven, however, to be a useful tool for me, and I see more and more possibilities with each passing day.
I get breaking news from a variety of sources like the HHS (@BirdFluGov) and the CDC (@CDCFlu), along with updates from CIDRAP (@CIDRAP), and AIDigest (@AIDigest).
I’m also in the pipeline to receive tidbits, notes, and updates from fellow bloggers and reporters. I often get inspirations for my next blog from the twitter stream running in a box along the side of my browser (I use TwitterFox).
I follow about 90 people and agencies.
And of course, I send out tweets (short messages) to alert people who follow me when I’ve posted a new blog, when I spot someone else’s blog they might find of interest, or simply a `retweet’ of someone else’s message that I feel should be propagated.
And that’s the power of twitter.
When I send out a Tweet, fewer than 300 people get it in their feed. But many of them have hundreds, or even thousands, of people who follow them. If they `retweet’ my message, suddenly it gets a much larger audience.
In terms of instant messaging, and getting an alert out out to a lot of people, Twitter has a lot going for it. Sure, there’s plenty of bogus information on Twitter. As I pointed out last April - It Depends Who You Follow.
If you follow idiots, you’ll get idiotic information.
Which just about tells you everything I know about Twitter.
Luckily, there are people with a greater understanding of the potential of these new social media than have I.
One of these visionary types – named Chris - emailed me today, and asked if I would take a look at blog he wrote on the potential epidemiological uses of Twitter.
I’ve read it, and thought some of my readers would want to read it as well.
As Chris (who normally blogs about electronic medical records) points out, there already are crude attempts to synthesize the data coming over Twitter and from search engines like Google, to try to identify and quantify infectious disease trends. Over time, these efforts may prove invaluable in tracking diseases.
That said, here is the link to the article.
Twitter: Growing Virally But Can It Stop Viruses?
Whether any of this is practical (many doctors are notoriously computer phobic),it’s an interesting idea, and food for thought.
A month ago, I doubt that anyone would have suspected the role that Twitter would play in the aftermath of the Iranian election.
And of course, Twitter is being utilized by hundreds of state and federal agencies, as well.
Yes, I see a lot of obstacles to using twitter in this fashion. Perhaps there will be too much `noise’ on to filter out, or too little participation. Maybe it isn’t practical.
Or maybe this turns out to be the next `big thing’.
I don’t pretend to know. After all, a year ago, I’d have sworn that I’d never have any use for Twitter.
I’m just glad there are people out there from a lot of different backgrounds thinking, and experimenting, and trying to come up with new ways to use today’s technology to help identify, and stop emerging diseases.
It’s a worthy goal.
