A Facebook user, who is in the public media, just recently succumbed to peer pressure and created a Twitter account.  This person is new  to it and will have to figure whether it works for them or not.  What kills me is all the feedback being sent from Facebook friends including one simply saying Twitter is stupid.

I’ve been on Twitter for a little bit now and I have found it very useful to follow people or companies of interest.  For example I purchase a lot of goofy gifts and one of the companies I follow is Archie McPhee.  The great thing about following them is that I get a constant feed of what’s going on and sometimes get the heads up on something I find funny and would like to buy.  So from this stand point I’m an active “consumer” on Twitter.  And so for people who are consumers of information Twitter makes a lot of sense.

Now what about the “providers” on Twitter who have something to say or share.  A company, like Archie McPhee, can leverage Twitter to reach a lot of people who is interested in what the y have to say very quickly and all day long.  So as a provider of information Twitter once again makes a lot of sense.

People in the public media (newscasters, writers, reporters, etc) who use Twitter get an extra benefit beyond communicating information.  But to explain this we need to look at why individuals tune into one station rather than another.  In Chicago there are four major local news stations (CBS-2, NBC-5, ABC-7, and Fox-32).  95% of the time I tune into NBC-5 but the important question is still why.

If I think about it they all report the same topics and local events.  One station may have an exclusive over the others but in general it’s all the same.  I think that I ended up on NBC-5 because I could identify with who was reporting the new (i.e. I liked them for some reason or another).   So can Twitter aide public media people?  I think the answer is yes.

I just recently found this friend on Facebook, who is a reporter on a local news radio station, is the sister of someone I went to high school with.  I was already a listener of  this news station but now when I here her report it just seems to be a little bit more interesting because I feel I know her a little more.  Now that I follow her on Facebook and get to see a bit of the personal side it really makes a difference.

So whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or any other online service I think it’s actually a very good idea for public people to communicate via any of these tools.  I see these systems as great tools to establish that personal feel and that leads to either new listeners or retaining existing listeners.  The down side is that if not done correctly this can also lead to pushing people away.