I just read this fun op-ed from the Washington Post by Jeanne McManus.
It comedically devalues life in a Twitter world:
Which comes first? The Twitter or life itself? Are we writing about what we’re doing or are we writing about what we’re going to do or are we doing it because we need something to write about?
I enjoyed her short musing. But now, I can’t find a link to follow her tweets anywhere on the entire op-ed page! Nor have i been able to locate her through Twitter’s “Find People” tool. I’m bummed, as she sounds really interesting, whether these are her real tweets or not:
Jeanne has measured out her life with coffee spoons. Huh?
So I write my own public request to Ms. McManus… and to any other editor, writer, reporter who covers new and social media seriously or comically – on TV, in print or online: please share how we can follow you or become a fan on these new tools which you write about.
NPR’s Science Friday does a great job of this. While driving from Annapolis to D.C. several weeks ago, @Padrepablo and I listened to Ira Flatow (@scifri) interviewing Tim O’Reilly (@timoreilly). Ira repeatedly mentioned how we could follow them. And caller Jeff Levy (@levyj413) – the EPA’s web manager – who talked about government and social media also shared how listeners could follow him. I’ve since learned a lot from following Mr. Levy. I’d like to easily do the same from others.
Of course, privacy is a concern, so I understand if you don’t easily share your Twitter name with your article… but then could you consider separate public and private personas? When used correctly, I can only see sharing Twitter accounts as a great learning and conversation tool.
Taking my own advice, you can follow me @sherrymain.