Twitter and You

No link round up this week, I think most of the bloggers I read are still getting over SXSW. Instead let’s talk about something that was all the rage at SXSW, Twitter.

Twitter is a web service that lets you send short updates via your cell phone, IM or the web. Think of it as “micro-blogging.” You can also have other Twitter users as friends and be alerted when they make updates. It may not seem immediately usefully, but it is.

I’m on Twitter and I use it to update where I am and what I’m doing, that way if my wife wants to know if I’m the way home yet, she can just dip into Twitter. Of course she usually calls me anyway, but at least it’s there. As with many advances in technology Twitter doesn’t let you do something new, it lets you do something you do anyway - check in with friends and family - in a new way.

However, I think that ministries can use Twitter in other ways. Tim Fulerton has a great post on his blog about how international aid organizations could use Twitter to distribute updates from the field.

We were having a similar conversation around the office about using a simple instant messenger bot to send instant updates. This information could come out minutes, not hours after a major event. The nice thing with an IM bot over Twitter is that users could also message it to receive the latest updates from an organization.

The key to using this well is discretion; groups have to know when to send out an IM or text message broadcast and when to save it for email. Donors of the future are relying on IM and text messages to communicate with their peers. Ministries need to start adapting to these new forms of electronic communication.

I can hear the groans now, “We just figured out email, now your telling me I have to learn another new thing?!?” Uhhh yep. The pace of technological change is speeding up not slowing down. Those who dismiss these technological advances as fads risk missing out on connecting with a new generation of supporters.