Compassion, sympathy, support…via Twitter friends?
One of the common – but faulty - beliefs about social media, especially tools such as Twitter, is that it is not really communication. How can messages that are less than 140 characters carry any real meaning? How can relationships grow in such short spurts? Well, you might be surprised. I came across a real life example today, via my daughter.
Heather wrote a heartfelt blog post about her grandmother passing away last week. She noted two lessons learned: don’t be too busy and get your priorities straight. She told my husband tonight that we should read the comments that had been left on her blog by some of her Twitter friends.
We did read them, and, wow! Four people shared their own similar experiences with her. They offered sympathy and support. They told her they understood just how she felt. They shared links to blog posts written when they went through their own loss. They left kindness and compassion among their words.
Just out of curiosity, I looked up each of their Twitter accounts. The four men hail from all over North America. @arikhanson from Minnesota, @josh_sternberg from New York, @dmullen from North Carolina, and @dannybrown from Ontario, Canada. They are all PR and Social Media professionals, like my daughter @prTini from Florida. They all do good work and share positive messages. Like my daughter, they want the world to be a better place and know that technology can help.
Shared goals and common life experiences can forge a relationship. It doesn’t have to include face-to-face meetings or lengthy dialogue. Perhaps, 140 characters is perfect.
You have to be brief and to the point. You can’t say too much that can get you into trouble. Sure, there are some users on Twitter (and other such sites) who message nothing more than shameless, commercial self-promotion. But, like these four men, there are also a lot of good, caring, interesting people out there that one might never otherwise have had the pleasure of “meeting.”
I am thankful that in all areas of my daughter’s world, including her little piece of cyberspace, she is surrounded by good people.
Do you have a great Twitter experience to share? Please leave your story here. I promise you won’t be limited to 140 characters 
Social Media Logo Image courtesy of www.TodayInArt.com
Tags: Compassion, Culture, Life, Social Media
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June 4, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Agreed – great post, momma Biddulph! I’ve always thought that compassion can take any form – as long as it is genuine.
June 4, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Hi Eleanor,
You’re right in that many social networks seem to be classed as nothing more than simple means of wasting your time online.
But there are friendships fostered – proper friendships, where people do care a lot about the folks they speak with.
Heather is an amazing person and I can see from your post she gets a lot of that from you. Pleasure to know Heather (and now you) and sad that the “reasons” for everyone’s comments on Heather’s post weren’t of a happier nature.
Take care,
Danny.
June 4, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Eleanor – you are too kind.
One of the things I’ve been amazed about in using online tools is the way people use them to connect, encourage, support, help, laugh with, cry with and challenge others they would have never known otherwise. I’ve been blessed to get to know folks like Danny, Arik and countless others during the past year. In fact, I’d go so far to say that my life is a little richer because of them.
Thanks again.