Twitter: A Rapid Response Tool

Twitter is an easy and free online viral tool to incorporate text messaging and instant messaging into your organizations online communications. If you use Twitter right you can take advantage of its rapid response viral atmosphere. This tight knit community will quickly rally around issues that are important to them, local tragedies, etc.

For example over the past few weeks Twitter came together to support member Susan Reynolds who shared her personal story about discovering a lump in her breast and 24 hours later learning she had breast cancer. Within a week, fellow Twitters launched the Frozen Pea Fund to raise money for breast cancer research in honor of Susan who talked about finding pain relief by using frozen peas to ice the area on her breast where they performed the biopsy. To top it off, every Friday is devoted to Susan on Twitter where you will see several Twitters displaying their Peavatars. Susan's story touched so many people onTwitter that it spread like wild fire. Over the past couple of weeks Susan has been interviewed by major media such as the Washington Post.
 
When the San Diego, California wildfires were quickly spreading and destroying hundreds of acres and homes in 2007 Nate Ritter began reporting his first hand experiences. Within hours people who did not know Nate began following him on Twitter so they could hear his accounts of the fires.  Locals claimed that Nate did a better job then the TV networks in covering the fires. Thanks to Nate government agencies are looking at how they can use Twitter for local emergencies. "It blew up because I have been providing an essential and steady stream of necessary information that any one major media source couldn't," said Ritter. Citizen journalism at its best.
 
For non-profit organizations to truly take advantage of Twitter and engage your fellow Twitters follow these helpful tips:

1. Search for users on Twitter who are interested in your issue and follow them. Many of them will end up following you as well so they can receive your messages and keep in touch with you.
2. Twitter is a two-way communication tool and the community expects you to share and to get to know them personally.
3. Don't plan on posting an action alert on Twitter. Twitter only allows for brief messages comprised of 140 characters so you need to get to the point quickly.
4. Engage your fellow twitters. Ask them questions. Respond to their posts.
5. If you are a bit of techie and really want to take advantage of Twitter and its viral impact tap into the RSS feeds advice offered by Chris Brogan. "If you want to follow a specific space, consider finding the right people twittering about that space, and building a blended RSS feed in Yahoo Pipes, and adding that to your RSS reader, instead of using the Twitter interface itself. Why build a persona and add people if you're just using Twitter to scrape data?"