Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton [102]
Perhaps the best example of Twitter’s organizational power is Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. The Obama campaign used Twitter in conjunction with other social-media tools to rally grassroots support. Representatives from Obama’s team used the Twitter account @barackobama to post updates on the candidate’s whereabouts, announce rallies and donation drives, and answer questions from ordinary twitterers. By using Twitter, the campaign helped to foster an idea of transparency and togetherness.
Even more interesting than Obama’s use of Twitter was how his supporters used it. When Obama supporters on Twitter began to use their avatars and background images to display their support for him, the idea caught on and spread rapidly across Twitter. Twitter avatars changed to Obama-themed icons in solidarity to the cause; twitterers updated bios and tag lines; and people pointed their personal profile Web links to Obama’s campaign site. For a service as simple and stripped-down as Twitter, Obama supporters certainly found creative ways to use it to show their affinity.
Now that Obama has been in office for some time, you can see an alternative organizational effort underway among conservatives on Twitter. Feeling underrepresented on Twitter, pugilistic, and calling themselves the Top Conservatives on Twitter, these individuals use the #tcot hashtag to represent themselves, and to stir support for their after-election goals and events (see Figure 13-5).
Organizing on Twitter does come with some risks. Because of the crowd mentality, Twitter opinion can turn on a dime. Everything discussed on Twitter is so real-time and in the moment that something can be trendy one moment and passé the next. Take the time to set up some foundation work first — a Web site that has accurate information, a universal hashtag, and keyword tracking. Your potential attendees and volunteers will know that you mean business if you use such tools. As we go to press, infighting amongst the #tcot community has disabled some of the Web sites built to support and display their efforts, but you really can’t own or stop a hashtag. It belongs to those who use it most.
Figure 13-5: A #tcot search, showing politically conservative tweets.
Organizing on a small scale
You can use Twitter to rally people around a cause at any level. We mention some bigger examples in the preceding section, such as Beth Kanter (see Figure 13-6), who once raised $9,000 for The Sharing Foundation orphans in 90 minutes onstage and via Twitter during the Gnomedex technology conference, and Twestival nonprofit raising $275,000 for charity: water. But what can you do in your own communities?
Even if your big idea is a local one, you can take advantage of Twitter to make it happen. Twitter empowers the user to locate and organize like-minded people online around a common goal or idea. If you need volunteers to fund-raise for your child’s class trip or school supplies, you can probably find them through your Twitter network. If you want to start a book club, try using Twitter to find members.
Taste Live
Wine and spirits enthusiasts have caught on to using Twitter as a community platform, especially the international community of wine lovers that organizes virtual tastings and real-world events. If you turn to Twitter on most Saturday nights, you can catch a glimpse of the Twitter Taste Live phenomenon (hashtag #ttl), shown in the figure.
This online event was started by Massachusetts wine shop Bin Ends Wines, and it has taken off as a concept all over the U.S. and abroad. The store didn’t just stop with Twitter Taste Live online events, though: They tapped the power of their Twitter network to take it offline, as well as onto other social-media channels, such as Ustream.
Organizing on Twitter does help serious causes, but it doesn’t have