Reminder: Twitter is ALWAYS a Conversation

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Oops, my bad.

I recently bumped into an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in  months who explained her absence by telling me how consumed she is with the ongoing woes of the company she has been with for nearly 15 years.  The shining example of these woes is the dramatic drop in headcount since the first of the year.

Later that day I tweeted about this update using  “local,  one-time high profile, fast rising firm’”as the descriptor of her company. I hit “update,” never giving the tweet a second thought, other than it was more substantive  than “…can’t wait for this day to end” sort of post.

In a flash, I received a DM (direct message) from @robterry26, associate editor/Web editor of the Baltimore Business Journal, asking me for details about that tweet, including the name of the company. Then, and only then,  did the reminder light bulb go off in my head that Twitter and other social media tools are all about conversations!

Also, this tweet could have had serious consequences.  However, the information was accurate, verifiable and caught the attention of a good reporter who knows the source of it as well as the value of the information he was handed.

In addition to being reminded that Twitter is all about the conversation, I hope this also serves as a an elbow in the ribs to think before I tweet and then think again before I hit “update.”