UPDATED: Web 101 series: Twitter and humanitarian responders

UPDATED 22.01.10: CNET writes about Twitter, all growed up, as a communications and information-sharing tool following the Haiti earthquake, and a great piece from the NYT illuminates why even sane people might like to give the thing a try.

This is the first in a series aiming to demystify some of the tools available to humanitarians on the web.

You're telling me I should think about joining Twitter? Really?

I'm afraid so, yes. A lot has been written about Twitter. You might have been wondering whether to dip a toe into the murky water of microblogging and been put off by all the hype and silliness - so here's a quick post on how to make the most of it and a few good links.

It's worth saying there has rarely been a better time to demonstrate the excellent use people are making of Twitter to discuss, promote, and further humanitarian work - the emergency in Haiti has been one of the most popular topics on Twitter all week, and not just for laypeople commenting on the news - humanitarians have been using it to help the response.

So why bother? Twitter isn't just about self-aggrandisement and navel-gazing, although there's a bit of that, of course. I use it mainly for the links people share, and increasingly for the information in their tweets. Fairly often, I hear of something on Twitter before it's on the more formal news channels. Also, you can talk to people, from the Today Programme to Amanda Palmer, directly - there's a personal quality to Twitter that you don't get anywhere else. It's nice to hear what people are doing working on the Haiti response in Geneva, London or Santo Domingo - but it's even better if you can write back and send a word of encouragement.



It's easy enough to sign up, at Twitter.com, so I'll leave that to you - although a word of warning - unless you're happy to post only work-relevant, party line stuff, don't name your organisation in your username or your bio! And if you decide to represent your organisation in that way, be prepared to get your output signed off by your Comms department.

Ok fine I'm sold. How do I do this? I've created a list of Twittering humanitarians which will give you a good starting point (you can also just use this as a webpage). Follow the people who seem interesting, then follow people they 'retweet', and you're off.

You can manage online, but there are also lots of applications which you can download for free to help you follow your Twitterstream and post, if you want to, although plenty of people just lurk. A good program is Seesmic, which allows you to follow your Facebook feed at the same time! Double trouble.

It's nice to give back - so if you see an article you like, post a link to it - don't forget to shorten the link using TinyUrl or through your Twitter application.

Let me know how this goes - I'll be interested to hear if people find this useful.