Posts tagged ‘engagement’
Twitter Tip: Create Your Follow Friday During the Week
Follow Friday is one of the best ways to engage people on Twitter. Simply tweet a list of Twitter users that you recommend others follow on Fridays with the hashtag #FollowFriday or #FF.
Lately, I have been neglecting to do so because I have been spending less time on Twitter. So I wanted to find a simple way to get back into the practice. My solution was to create a draft on Monday, schedule it for Friday delivery, and then add users during the week who shared valuable links. (I use HootSuite, but many other tools, such as TweetDeck, allow you to schedule your tweets)
It was quick to edit the tweet during the week, and then I didn’t have any additional work on Friday. In fact, my Friday ended up busy and I would have missed the opportunity entirely.
Another time saver is forgetting about creating a new, unique list every week. Too much cranium time for what should be a time-effective task, and no one’s keeping track. If I end up repeating users often, it’s because I like their feeds that much.
Do you have any tips that help you stay engaged?
Why Twitter Should Re-Name the Re-Tweet
Why would Twitter tinker with arguably its most powerful feature?
Let’s face it, the name “re-tweet” is an idiosyncrasy – one of many on Twitter (ex: “hashtag”). Idiosyncrasies are hurdles to new users. And Twitter has an issue engaging new users. It needs to overcome these issues to ensure it remains as powerful a conversational medium as it is a broadcast medium.
So re-name “re-tweet” what it really is: “like”. The reason we re-tweet is because we read 
something we like. Instead of working hard to educate new users on a unique convention, let’s teach them to hit the “like” button. Easy.
There’s no harm following a popular convention, as YouTube recently demonstrated. And there’s no bigger rival to Facebook than Google, so if they can swallow their pride to adopt a convention that Facebook popularized, Twitter can as well. The change would initially create hassles for the Twitter community, but we’ve survived changes before. And it will be easier to manage sooner, rather than later.
This seems to be a relatively simple way to make Twitter easier to use and maintain the power of the re-tweet. And that will lead to an increase in engagement that will serve all of us better. “Re-tweet” needs to go.
Torah 2.0
This past weekend, I saw a great example of how new technology can enhance a traditional setting through community engagement. No, I’m not talking about a doctor’s office. But that where I’m going…
My wonderful niece Sylvanna became a bat mitzvah this weekend.
So my family and I were in a synagogue both Friday and Saturday for the occasion. A bit of background: in each week’s Jewish services, a section of the Torah is read aloud, usually by the rabbi.
During the Friday night service, the rabbi projected an image of that week’s Torah portion – taken with his iPhone earlier in the day – on the wall, and, while reading it aloud and providing interpretation, used a laser pointer to show us what he was reading.
Think about how radical a change this is for a second. The weekly reading of the Torah is a custom literally thousands of years old. Yet, the rabbi experimented with this custom to bring his congregation closer. And it truly engendered a greater spirit of togetherness than a traditional sermon format.
It reminded me of an excellent post on The Health Care Blog a few weeks back about EHR etiquette. (a-ha, back to healthcare!) It explored how much more engaged patients are when providers use an EHR as part of an active conversation, as opposed to robotically inputting patient’s information without making eye contact. I encourage you to read the discussion.
Doctors and religious leaders are both held in similar reverential regard. But both are more effective when they seem close to us, and both can use technology to do so.
It’s a great reminder of the role community and transparency can play as new healthcare technology is employed, whether it be an EHR or simply online medical information. It’s also a great reminder to never stop asking “why not”. Even processes thousands of years old can be adapted and improved.
Incidentally, I’ve never seen this idea in action before. But admittedly, I’m not in synagogue too often. A quick search did not turn up any additional examples. I would love to know if you’ve seen this in practice elsewhere, if you’ve seen something similar, or simply what you think.
Congratulations to Rabbi David Segal, who is the rabbi mentioned above and who can be seen here using technology more humorously, graduating from student rabbi to his own congregation in Aspen.
And Mazel Tov to my wonderful niece Sylvanna, who was simply brilliant this weekend!
My name is Adam Gross. 
