Twitter - is it really the next big thing in leadership?

Q: Is it true you have started using Twitter?

A: Yes, absolutely!

Q: But surely that’s not your thing? I thought I was the unconventional one. When did you start this up? Why?

A: I just got fed up with not knowing what it was all about….some leaders I respect use it…so I decided to take action and educate myself

Q: How? Did you do a course?

A: It was easier than that. I just went to the Twitter website on https://twitter.com/ and created an account. Less than a month ago.

Q: Isn’t it all rather complicated?

A: No. Put in your name and e-mail address, create a password, and then a user name. Press the button and the account is created

Q: That fast? A couple of minutes and that’s it? What then?

A: There is a “Let’s get started” screen. It will get you to complete a personal profile; putting in some details and a photo, if you like

Q: So then you start Twittering?

A: It’s called tweeting, and not quite yet. You need to follow some people first, and to get some followers

Q: Why?

A: Because although what you post on Twitter is in theory viewable by millions, at first it’s only visible to someone who is following you

Q: So it’s like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the sea?

A: I think of it as more like going to a giant party where there are lots of groups of people having conversations, some of which you join

Q: Sounds noisy!

A: Well, you only hear the conversations of the people you choose to listen to.

Q: That’s following, is it?

A: You are getting the idea. You can follow as many or as few people as you like. And can be followed by as many people as you interest.

Q: Which might be only a few?

A: Or none. Lots of people don’t mind, because they done tweet at all, they just follow others to get information

Q: But what’s the point? Lots of people saying they have just had coffee or a crab sandwich, or are at Vauxhall tube station?

A: Well yes, some quite important people do do exactly that…not sure why…but you don’t have to follow anyone who isn’t interesting to you

Q: I’m still unconvinced. Didn’t I read in Wikipedia that Twitter chose the name because of what the dictionary defines twittering as being?

A: You mean “a short burst of in consequential information”? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter Yes, but it’s not quite like that

Q: Oh come on! The news is full of people being prosecuted for defamation or sexual harassment on Twitter. Hardly high quality stuff!

A: True, but there are also lots of people with genuinely benign intent, sharing ideas. On health, politics, science, compassion, leadership

Q: So whom do you follow, and why?

A: I follow various organisations that are interesting to me as a leader, like @FMLM_UK, @TheKingsFund, @NHSFlufighter, @NHSLeadership…

Q: Whoah! What just happened then? What’s with the @ stuff and the lack of punctuation?

A: Well when you make your profile you get a user name….like @tony_berendt. All your tweets will have this on them

Q: Which means?

A: People can reply to you, or can follow you if they think you are saying interesting things.

Q: So I can converse with organisations or people as long as I know their Twitter name?

A: That’s right. You can tweet them or reply to their tweets. But you need to remember, these replies are public! That’s very important!

Q: Oh? Why is that?

A: Well an American congressman who liked sending intimate pictures of his anatomy via Twitter, recently forgot that to his cost!

Q: Good grief? He thought it would be private and ended up…..?

A: ….yes, thousands of followers saw much more than they expected or wanted! End of job.  http://bit.ly/1bNAPJj

Q: Good grief! So what with indecent pictures, libellous allegations, and threatening insults, why are you getting involved with this?

A: it’s a way to pick up information and to pass it on. It’s a way to communicate and engage, potentially with very large numbers of people

Q: I still don’t understand. What will I actually see if I do all this, get an account, and set up to follow some people?

A: A timeline of all the tweets and retweets from all the people and organisations you have decided to follow.

Q: Retweets?

A: Yes. Anyone who likes someone’s tweet (or wants to pass it on for any other reason) can retweet it, passing it on to their followers

Q: But what’s in the tweet? You only have 140 characters, is that right? How can you put across a sensible argument with that?

A: You’d be surprised. It forces you to be concise, that’s for sure. But you can also put in URLs to link to blogs or favourite websites

Q: But URLs are massively long! I know that much. Lots are way over 140 characters. Surely that will put you over the limit?

A: There are websites that will produce shortened URLs, like https://bitly.com/ . That makes it easy to make links to interesting content

Q: They’ve thought of everything, haven’t they? But are these links to things that are actually useful?

A: Absolutely…. breaking news stories; conferences ; clinical guidelines.  I got the up to date Cochrane guideline on neutropenic sepsis…

Q: But couldn’t you have looked that up by going to their website?

A: Yes, but I might not have realised it was just out, or have remembered to go there, or have accessed it so easily

Q: Alright, so you can get newsflashes and updates. I can see the value. But surely all the chit chat is a colossal waste of time?

A: It’s not like e-mail. You can dip in and out as you please. And you can search for someone’s tweets by name, or for a topic by hashtag

Q: Hashtag?

A: Yes, like #leadership or #FMLM_blog or #waveofcompassion. You can add a hashtag to your tweet to link into a specific discussion

Q: This is still all too abstract! Can you give me an example of where Twitter has really made a difference to you or your practice?

A: Sure. Last week consultant Dr Gordon Caldwell, Twitter name @doctorcaldwell, tweeted an innovative approach to doing a medical ward round

Q: Which involves?

A: ‘Scribe sums up on ward round. Patient said "That's good summary makes it all clear to me, thank you". Means all have same understanding’

Q: That’s it?

A: That’s what he said in 140 characters. Of course there is much more to it; engagement of the whole team and the patient; improved quality

Q: So you went and tried it out on your own ward round?

A: Yes. And retweeted it. And had a whole conversation about it on Twitter with Dr Caldwell and others who got interested

Q: Don’t you think that’s a bit crazy, taking an idea for clinical practice from Twitter?

A: No, it’s great. The patient, the SpR, and I all liked it. @FMLM_UK members should all try it!

Q: But from a social media website from a person you don’t know? How do you know this chap is even real?

A: Interesting point, but wouldn’t it be crazy to dismiss a simple, intuitive and interesting idea just because it came from Twitter?

Q: I’m still not convinced this 140 character limit can possibly work. How can one have a decent conversation and explore ideas sensibly?

A: Suppose I told you that every Q and A in this blog was no more than 140 characters? We could have had this whole conversation on Twitter!

Q: Touche! So I can listen; opine; converse; swap ideas; communicate with people inside and outside my organisation …hmm….engaging, I guess?

A: I think so. You should of course check out your organisation’s social media policy to stay on the right side of your employer.

Q: Good point. Are there special rules for doctors?

A: Yes, doctors have GMC guidance to follow as well http://bit.ly/13D50c8

Q: So if I try this out….can I follow you?

A: Your choice. @tony_berendt. And I can follow you back to get you going, at least to start with