Hillary Clinton and Twitter
Posted by Allison Fine on June 18, 2009
According to the NY Times yesterday, the State Department asked Twitter not to perform their regularly scheduled maintenance Tuesday night in order to keep the site up for tweets from Iranian protestors. (It would have been nice if the story had included the fact that there were lots and lots of voices on Twitter asking the company to do the same thing.)
That’s HIllary’s State Department doing that and she has been out front recently talking about the impact that social media can have on diplomatic relations.
She also has a Twitter account of all things Hillary here.
But, then, yesterday, she says during a press conference, “I wouldn’t know a Twitter from a tweeter, but apparently, it is very important.”
Now, I love Hillary, really I do. I was an ardent supporter of hers during the primary campaign last year and think she will make a great president. But, this is a perfect example of the way that too many Boomers treat social media. It’s something other people, generally young people, do that isn’t infused in the way that they work.Knowing that Twitter is important, reading reports that Iranians are using it to share their stories this week isn’t enough. Hillary has to try it out. I’m not suggesting that she has to be a devoted tweeter, but she has to kick the tires and give it a whirl around the block to really see what the fuss is all about.
There is an opportunity here. There are Boomers and even reluctant Gen Xers in your organizations who are either resisting the social media resolution mightly or hoping that it’s something other people do. This isn’t a sustainable way to work; social media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental way of reorganizing your work and your relationships with the rest of the world. My suggestion is setting up reverse mentoring brown bag lunches where the Millennials can walk them through some of the tools and let them test drive them. Think of opportunities for your Luddites to be guest bloggers and tweeters. Get them using the tools and they’ll see for themselves how powerful they are.
And while Hillary is recuperating (I had the same thing happen a few years ago – ouch!), I’m happy to have lunch at her house in Chappaqua and tweet together with her!
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This entry was posted on June 18, 2009 at 7:16 am and is filed under Social Media. Tagged: Hillary Clinton, Iran, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
4 Responses to “Hillary Clinton and Twitter”
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carol cone said
Great post.
I have a social media intern this summer who is helping to specifically hone my twitter, facebook, Youtube skills. She even has her own website for internship ratings.
I just love the reverse mentoring.
Allison Fine said
Atta girl, Carol!!
elizabeth rose said
Alison – You’re right on target and agree that these are the most fundamental tools of democracy. You know I’m a fan and I find your blog very interesting (as well as your book). Just a tweak, here: Please be aware that many Boomers are embracing and championing these technologies as instruments of social change. I’m uncomfortable seeing Hilary and the guy “who raised his hand at a meeting” (in a previous blog) classified as “Boomers”. Why use this classification? Perhaps there’s another way to refer to these people. Maybe “low tech reactionaries” or the “digitally challenged” or “the as-yet binary unenlightened”. Age is a delicate issue and … well I think I’ve made my point.
Allison Fine said
You are quite right, Elizabeth, and I will try to create a new designation. I often talk about young people, Millennials, as Social Citizens and digital natives, but that is also over simplyfing things. How about digitally savvy and digitally challenged? Thanks for your input, and thanks for reading my blog!
Allison