# 4743
At the urging of a friend, a little over 18 months ago, I cast aside my reservations and created a twitter account under my nom de plume @Fla_Medic .
Admittedly, in those first few weeks, I had no idea what Twitter was all about, or how useful it would end up being for me.
It seemed so . . . limited at first. Particularly when messages could only be 140 characters or less.
But over time I discovered just how powerful a tool twitter could be.
I’m not alone. Many government agencies have embraced Twitter, and other forms of `new media’ (videos, blogs, social media sites) with a passion.
If you aren’t familiar with twitter, a brief explanation might help.
I use a browser add-on that gives me a live `twitter column' running down the right hand side of my screen, and I get tweets (short, micro-bursts of information) from people and agencies I follow updated every 5 minutes as I surf, write, or work on the web.
My Firefox browser with twitter add-on.
Some users go to the Twitter.com website for updates, while others use standalone applications. There are dozens of ways to access your twitter account, including from your smart phone, iPad or ITouch when you are away from your desk.
The secret to making Twitter useful (IMHO) is being selective about who you follow. Personally, I would find it difficult to pay attention to more than 100-150 accounts, and still get my work done.
Which means that I try to follow only those accounts that provide interesting or useful content. Currently, I’m `following’ 136 people and/or agencies.
The rap against Twitter has often been over the quality of information you get from it. As I wrote in It Depends Who You Follow more than a year ago:
What you get out of Twitter (or any social media) depends on who you follow.
With Twitter, you decide whose feeds you will monitor. If you elect to `follow’ idiots, you will receive idiotic feeds. If you follow `panic mongers’, you will get panic `tweets’.
Twitter is simply a tool. Blaming Twitter for spreading panic is like blaming the telephone for spreading malicious gossip.
So I only follow friends and colleagues, a handful of reliable news services, writers I respect, and several dozen governmental and non-governmental agencies.
In return I get a steady stream of useful `tweets’ 24/7 from known-to-be reliable sources that keep me informed, entertained, and often serve as a muse for my writing.
I usually only `tweet’ 5 to 10 times a day.
Announcing when I post a new blog, or highlighting a someone else’s blog or news story, or `re-tweeting’ a message from another account I think some of my followers would find of interest.
While I don’t follow all of their accounts, one of the big players on Twitter is the US government; some of their higher profile accounts include @Flugov ,@FEMA, @CDCemergency, and @ReadydotGov.
But those just scratch the surface.
The HHS alone has more than 60 twitter accounts, and that number appears to be growing.
Twitter . . . along with Facebook, YouTube, and other new media sites are fast becoming the preferred method of information dissemination and communication.
The HHS maintains a website devoted to their use of new media.
There you will find links to:
- 15 different HHS Youtube Channels.
- 19 HHS Facebook Pages.
- More than 2 dozen Blogs
- More than 20 Flickr Accounts
- And 60+ Twitter Feeds
Admittedly, I was a bit of a skeptic 18 months ago when I first opened my twitter account. But since then, it has become an indispensible real-time link to the events, people, and things I am interested in.
Some my other blog posts on social media you may wish to explore include:
Social Media Resources For This Year’s Hurricane Season
CDC Uses Social Media To Spread Swine Flu Information
HHS Unveils New Media Website
Just a few of the science writers/bloggers/Resources (listed in no particularly order) on Twitter that I can heartily recommend include:
Crof Crawford Kilian | North Vancouver BC
marynmck Maryn McKenna | MSP, ATL, BGR, CDG
profvrr Vincent Racaniello | NYC
CIDRAP Minneapolis, MN
maggiemfox Maggie Fox | Washington
CP_Branswell Helen Branswell
FluTrackers FluTrackers.com | International Website
David_Dobbs David Dobbs | Vermont and London
scottwmcpherson Scott McPherson | Tallahassee, FL
iayork Ian York
JohnDSolomon new york city
break_glass Jimmy Jazz | Philadelphia, PA
AndrewPWilson Andrew Wilson | Columbia, MD
DemFromCT Greg Dworkin
Dutchy123 Dutchy | Netherlands
