Tom Nocera
www.theWholeDamnNet.com

Twitter's Ongoing Role in Creating a More Responsive Government

Twitter was remarkably effective when it was used to organize the long shot political campaign resulting in the election of Barack Obama.  Today, with the announced resignation of Van Jones, Twitter has shown its power once again.  This time, its utility was focused on ridding the President's inner circle of a self-proclaimed communist, a black nationalist racist (with an arrest record) and, someone seriously lacking in wisdom, good judgment and other qualities essential for a leader to be trusted.

Of the many things that earned for Van Jones an expedited exit from his highly visible, official role in the federal government, the news media seemed to be most upset the fact that he exercised his Constitutional right to petition government to redress grievances.  I say this was, by far, Mr. Jones least problematic public act.  Yet, it became the final straw, check that, actually, it was his excuse for signing a so-called "Truther Petition" claiming he didn't read it carefully, was the dam breaker. It was a profoundly stupid admission even if true. And coming from a Yale trained lawyer, no less. (Of course, G.W.Bush also graduated from Yale, so enough said about that being an Ivy league diploma mill.) That Jones lacked the wisdom and good judgment to even consider signing an online petition, sent the signal that Jones is not someone who can be counted on to use good judgment, especially when it comes to spending even a dollar of taxpayers' money - much less entrusted to earmark a budget of $30 billion. 

Jone's legacy will be that during his abbreviated stint in public service he managed to create exactly one new, green job. (Check that, a "light green" job at best.)  That single job goes to whomever Valerie Jarrett blesses to become his replacement.

Twitter has, once again, proven to be a very precious and powerful tool for change.

Bingtweets – A First Impression

By Tom Nocera

John Battelle is one of the people who for a number of years has contributed in a significant way to my media/technology knowledge base.  A while back I tagged him as "the best connected individual on The Whole Damn Net (TM)"

John's company is Federated Media. Federated has been, since its inception, on the leading edge of creating effective social media advertising platforms.  They practically invented the concept of engaging audiences on the Intenet with the winning combination of website content and devices to encourage a dialog.  They are really good at implementing ideas that can greatly benefit their advertising clientele.  Bingtweet, now in beta test, is Federated’s latest and greatest endeavor. 

My first impression of Bingtweets (which I discovered earlier today from links posted at: www.battellemedia.com ) is that it is a winner. Big time.  Federated Media has positioned itself squarely on the strong shoulders of two giants: Microsoft and Twitter.  From that perch, FM's reach is almost unlimited.

I will post more about Bingtweets once I've experimented with it a bit more.  Meanwhile, I don't want to be hogging all its interactive, buzz generating potential - so I encourage you to try it for yourself. 

Please keep in mind that Bingtweets is in beta currently and, I am betting Federated Media would appreciate any feedback you may have.

http://Twitter.com/TomNocera

Twitter's Role in Emergency Management

By Tom Nocera

It's June 1, 2009 - the date that marks the beginning of the 2009 hurricane season.  I am currently in Tallahassee at the request of a federal agency with an important job to do in disaster preparedness and a major role in  funding disaster recovery.  I am here taking part in Florida’s Hurricane Preparedness Drill. 

This drill is a statewide exercise - a 5 day work out for emergency managers at all levels of government as well as the private sector.  It involves the military, leaders of volunteer organizations and even companies like Walmart.  The goal is to make sure all the emergency management systems, all the lines of communication, every facet of it is working according to the “Sunshine State’s” exemplary hurricane plan. 

A recent development is the realization by leaders in emergency management of the role Twitter can play in disaster communication.  Twitter has already achieved a favored status by several emergency management organizations.   The newest player in social media is this year making a big splash as federal and state emergency management’s newest means to assist with the timely communication of important emergency notifications.

For example, the state of Florida’s Department of Transportation recently announced it will be using Twitter as one of the ways it will spread the news when mass evacuations become necessary and the governor orders specifically designated major multiple lane highways (key toll roads and interstates) to be converted overnight to One Way Evacuation Routes.   

Implementing this is not an easy undertaking.  It will require hundreds of the state’s emergency workers - including the highway patrol - to make the overnight conversion.  It can only be done safely in daylight hours.  This has never before been done in Florida.  But, the good news is that now the processes, plans and equipment are in place to make this kind of escape from devastation possible.  Those of us living in Florida’s exceptionally vulnerable, heavily populated coastal areas will learn of the One Way Evacuation Routes via all the usual means of communications via radio and TV, but now, for the first time, Twitter will be utilized.

As for who is leading the way with Twitter in emergency management applications, the kudos go to FEMA.  To its credit, our nation’s leading provider of disaster help has been actively using Twitter for months.  (Check out, or you may want to follow FEMA at: http://twitter.com/femainfocus )  FEMA’s External Affairs section has found Twitter uniquely helpful in passing along important disaster related news and helpful disaster preparedness information.  Often FEMA fits the category of providing "leadership by example".  

Besides the recognition of Twitter, here is a quick "take away" from the first day of the current hurricane drill:  

Everybody in Florida's Emergency Operations Center were reminded that contrary to what many people think, FEMA is NOT a first responder in disasters.  FEMA comes in at the request of a state, and is there to support and augment with federal resources, those provided by the state.   First responders are those who put their boots in the streets immediately following a disaster. They are your local fire departments, county emergency response team members as well as members of the national guard.  Often they save lives in the course of their work.

 And here is an easy prediction:  Expect to see more organizations involved in emergency management follow FEMA and the states'  lead, and begin usingTwitter to enhance the overall effectiveness of their communications to the public.

On Keeping Up With So Many "Tweets"

Back in December, '08, when I first set forth to "engage" on Twitter, I thought I'd be able to keep up with the truncated messages from maybe 25 or 30 active "tweeters". And, I began, as so many do, by following some of the biggest or best known "twitterati", like Guy Kawasaki and Robert Scoble - as well as those who they respect, or value worthwhile to follow.

When I reached 25 I figured out it was time to make the switch over to theTweetdeck platform to better manage the inbound flow of tweets.  Instantly I found I could now handle a whole lot more information. Currently I am following over 225 "tweeps."  Many are news sources, like BreakingNewsOnline, newspaper or magazine editors, like John Byrne of BusinessWeek,  and reporters, or TV/Radio interviewers like "CharlieRows" - Charlie Rose PBS Interviewer par excellance.

Soon I learned through a process of self-discovery what aspects of Twitter I was most interested in pursuing.  I found I was getting info that was too "tech heavy." So, then I tried a bold experiment of unfollowing Scoblizer. That difficult decision really freed up my screen and my brain. (I mean the Robert Scoble is exceptionally bright, tech savvy, and he's the hardest working guy on www.TheWholeDamnNet.com.  He's developing into a fairly decent interviewer too, as good as any "one man band" can be.  While at the same time he's just so relentlessly prolific and so ceaselessly evangelizing Facebook or Feedburner or, anything made by Apple, or Canon.)   But, I figured, so what if I learn of tech product breakthroughs hours or, even days later than most.  So what if that kind of information comes to me second hand. I can do just fine not getting caught up in morsels of current gossip from places like Davos.   What I learned from experience is that I can do better on Twitter without having to skim through all the minute details of his exceptionally busy life on the road with Fast Company TV.

My philosophy for Twitter is evolving, but for now it is to reach out to others based on information contained in their profile when I do not recognize a name.  Also, I strive to "re-tweet" (RT) from sources I trust, whenever the information may still be "fresh" or, be useful to others.  And, I now make it a practice to not automatically follow. (Recall how a fake Dalai Lama attracted thousands of trusting followers who were sucked in by a nicely designed profile?)

Life, I believe, is much too short to be playing the vanity game of striving to "collect" thousands of followers. (Isn't that almost the same as "He who dies with the most toys wins?") Instead, I am thinking its about quality, not quantity when it comes to who you follow. Keep in mind that what goes around comes around and water will seek its own level - meaning smart people will eventually attract other smart people.

I’ve come to think of Twitter as being very much like a "come as you are” party.  So, it is only polite to be social, essential be real, most interesting when you mingle and make new acquaintances with those you have found to have common interests.  At the best parties, you want everyone to share freely of their personalities, opinions, time and ideas.   So, I go to the Twitter party looking forward to having fun, getting news and inspiration, while meeting up with the thoughts of some of my old friends while being open to the idea of making a new twitter pal or two.