At the tender age of seven, social media's Twitter is the new Vox Populi.
Known for spreading information in succinct 140 character bites, Twitter—which just marked its 7th birthday—now has more than 500 million registered users. I was a relatively early adopter, joining at the beginning of 2009. As a senior program officer for a foundation committed to improving the health of older adults, I wondered: What could Twitter do?
One thing it has done is to far exceed my expectations. Initially, I hoped to spread high-value information. I naively imagined that my tweets on cost-effective geriatric models of care might be retweeted and gently land in the receptive hands of those involved in redesign efforts.
Yes, I did find Twitter to be a powerful health care tool used by leading innovators, practitioners, policymakers, C-Suite decision makers, as well as people and families. And messages were indeed retweeted. But to my surprise, Twitter was not a mass of individual messages moving in one direction. It is, in fact, a community, a deep well, brimming with thought-provoking discussions and groups coalescing around action.
It is intimate, not anonymous. And I have been enriched by the newfound friends and colleagues I have met, some solely in the Twittersphere and others now in person.
Instead of a one-way street, I now see this micro blogging venue as a place for dynamic learning and sharing, a place to find or develop a network of people interested in tackling a range of issues, including care of older adults.
One of the best ways to experience community on Twitter comes in the form of Twitter Chats. Topics range from hospice and palliative care to health care leadership. First, you will need to register on Twitter and choose a name for yourself. The John A. Hartford Foundation's Twitter handle is @jhartfound; my personal account is @notesonnursing (the title of Florence Nightingale's seminal work).
Once you are registered, you will see people using hash tags in their tweets. A hashtag is nothing more than the pound sign (#) in front of an abbreviation such as #EOL (end of life) or #HPM (hospice and palliative medicine). You will quickly learn a new language that connects communities.
When the word "chat" is part of the hashtag, you have found a Twitter Chat (eg #EOLchat). Look carefully at the day of the week and time that people are using the hashtag. You now know when the Twitter Chat occurs. To join in, use the hashtag in your tweets at the appointed hour. Follow along by searching for tweets that use the hashtag.
Here are a few of my favorite Twitter Chats to get you started:
#eolchat (end of life)
#rnchat (nursing)
#mdchat (medicine)
Some of the best groups and conversations are asynchronous. Here are hashtags I like to follow regularly:
#HCSM (health care and social media)
#HPM (hospice and palliative medicine)
#hcldr (health care leadership)
Then there are events with special one-time hashtags, including conferences and virtual meetings. One recent event I was asked to help lead was a Twitter Chat hosted by ABC News Dr. Richard Besser @ABCDRBchat on end of life #EOL. The chat was the number one trending dialogue on Twitter for the hour it occurred. And it reached 30.1 million people per the organizers. It is a great example of the power of social media to engage people on topics that might otherwise not be discussed.
Twitter helped me find people and professionals interested in breast cancer on #BCSM (yes, that's breast cancer social media). It's a wonderful community of support and information. You name the issue and you will probably find your community.
I am most thankful to have found the @TEDMED community. In case you haven't discovered it, TED shares Ideas Worth Spreading. TEDMED focuses on health and health care. Through the power of Twitter, I found an amazing group of leaders and will be joining them at TEDMED next month.
Where will Twitter take you? You won't know until you try. So if you haven’t tried it yet, give yourself a present in honor of Twitter’s 7th birthday and register today. My wish is that you will find Twitter as enlightening and uplifting as I have.