I especially like your point about torch-bearers. In the Twitterverse, the more torch bearers you have, the more you’ll get noticed — i.e. more RTs, more followers, and MOST importantly more engagement. (I’m defining engagement here to mean an assortment of things that align with your objectives. Could be blog comments, book sales or speaking requests, depending on what you’re looking for.)

Thanks for sharing. A great expansion on the expression “think before you tweet,” with practical advice on how to keep your tweets on task, so to speak.

I think it comes down to situational awareness. The ability to analyze your surroundings, to know what is happening, when something is going wrong, or to know when you don’t have enough information to make a decision, to make a statement.

Another example I find where this happens is our own city drivers. Some people think they are the only vehicle out on the road and they can change lanes when they want, go as fast or slow as they want- that’s how accidents happen.

So if someone wants to complain or make a statement, they need to step out of their little box, expand their horizons, and try to understand the situation first. If you can’t get the whole picture, makes it pretty hard to complain.

My job is a perfect example: Train crews are only on their train. They don’t get to see the entire subdivision like I do, or get access to information that I get to make my decisions and plans. Most of the crews are pretty good, but there are the odd ones that try to complain about a meet or work online. By sharing my ‘big picture’ they still might not like my decision, but they accept it!

Back to social media, Wendy, you are right. People have been given some amazing tools that gives them a public voice, but with such power, there must be an understanding of it’s use, and it’s impact on others.

Great post Wendy

Thanks for the review…some good takeaways and some great perspective

It’s not a .COM site and it’s never been blocked from my networks. Hope this helps.

Yes, that is what i’m working on I have a couple more interesting ideas i’d love to share with you!!

That’s a good point as well- maybe instead of trying to integrate social media into our current models of PR, marketing, and communication- we can break it down to it’s simplest form, and use older models that are mostly lost and forgotten. Kind of start from scratch and build a completely new model!!