How about joining me in a Twitter experiment @sayalakai? For those of you already familiar with Twitter, it’s a brand new account I have started, separate from the one you see in the right column, which is my personal, everything account @rosasay.

I have become a big fan of the free micro-blogging service called Twitter for several different reasons.

• My biggest reason has to do with quick responsiveness in real-time. Twitter has been helping me to quickly and easily connect with people who are online at the same time I am (it can be far better than email for me in that way).
• However not just anybody; I connect with those who have followed me (or who I have followed) because we share similar interests with certain things. ‘Following’ is like ‘friending;’ you develop a like-minded network on Twitter.
• Which leads into my second biggest reason. When web links are shared by those in my Twitter hui [group] there is a natural filtering of the really good stuff they have found, stuff I am highly likely to be interested in too. For me the web is mostly about ‘Ike loa; seeking the learning captured in its digital library, and there is an incredible amount of knowledge shelved in other people’s brains.

As with all new tools, know why before bothering with how

Sometimes I use Twitter for broadcasting simple alerts; it helps people know where I am with all the traveling I do, and my perceptive friends there know when it is best to intercept me, both in-person and virtually. Other times I will brew some coffee and settle in to chat there in lively conversation for a half hour or so. Very entertaining, but very useful too.

This past weekend was one of those times where I had several conversations going at the same time, and at one point, I got this aha! moment, thinking, It would be so great if I could get conversations going like this with those who read Say “Alaka‘i” for I feel like I am doing too much one-way broadcasting there.

And in less than 5 minutes I had created @sayalakai and started to play with the idea of using it to talk story about Say “Alaka‘i” topics —with you. In short, I want us to communicate more effectively. Our Sunday Koa Kākou is a great start, but we can get much better at this.

If you click there now, and then click on the “Favorites” you’ll see that I used them to save this quick reference to the how-to of our Twitter experiment; I will copy them here in the order I did them (they are latest first there):

1. sayalakai: Establishing a new Twitter feed for those solely interested in the discussions of Say “Alaka‘i” separate from my other tweets @rosasay
2. sayalakai: I will respond to your @ replies if you choose to comment via Twitter. Reference the post by SA no. to save characters (you’ll soon see)
3. SA4 Alaka‘i Archive Love: Feb 2009 Update http://tinyurl.com/anmlqs Full index of what has appeared on the site so far (and why archive?)

Your comments are always welcomed here of course, and you can wax eloquent here as opposed to having only 140 characters at Twitter, however just imagine how great it can be if we’re both online at the same time, and if we can draw others interested in our topic too! Management and leadership are NOT boring topics, and they are meant to facilitate engagement; Twitter can help us with more full-contact Alaka‘i learning. We can also discuss related tangents beyond the two or three days I blog here —in fact, you can give me suggestions there for what you’d like to see here in my future writing.

So, what say we try it, and see how it goes?

I will end with two things today: First, a great primer on Twitter done by Lee LeFever, and second, about how this is not a diversion. How does our @sayalakai Twitter experiment connect back to some of the other things we have already talked about here, like talking story?

New to Twitter? A Primer

Here is a great tutorial: Twitter (In Plain English) from The Common Craft Show.
Love how Lee LeFever does these: It will take you less than 3 minutes to watch it.

Two clips, more up to date:

1. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams recently spoke at TED. In this YouTube clip, he reveals that many of the ideas driving the app’s growth came from unexpected uses invented by the users themselves; Behind Twitter’s explosive growth (9 minutes).
2. Recently shared by KGMB9: Twitter Hits Congress; 110,000 Followers? (3 minutes).

Our Say “Alaka‘i” Connections

Some of you have signed up, and are now following @sayalakai without having read this far. On the other side of the spectrum, there are scores of businesses still resisting giving internet access to their staff much less taking the plunge with social media, and caution is wise. If you are among them, you might be thinking, “Twitter? Rosa, you’ve lost it.”

Here are the connections to two of the initiatives and strategies we have already discussed. We do want to learn before we leap, however I do believe that digital learning is a leap all managers and leaders must be taking.

• Technological Competence is becoming more and more critical for managers and leaders, as there are very few jobs today which aren’t becoming automated in some way —or could be, requiring that open-mindedness and willingness to learn new technique. Besides being free, Twitter is very user-friendly, and is now bridging several different industries with the ease in which networks are created. Read more, at Job Competencies for 2009: Let’s figure them out.
• Talking Story and Twitter conversation is a natural pairing. Talking story was one of our 2009 Strategies: The Top 7 Business Themes on my 2009 Wish List, listed for our growth in communications at #6, Talking Story grows up. Most recently, we explored this at Bring Hawai‘i to the Workplace by ‘Talking Story.’

Go on, give it a try. We will help each other!

If you still have time for a bit of reading, I will share one last link. Though I am older with each passing day, I do leap quicker these days than I used to, for I have come to a comfort level online that can take a bit of time to develop. You will find more about my own evolution in this posting I had done for Managing with Aloha Coaching: Internet Privacy and a release in Talking Story.

You can develop a comfort level too, but you have to take the leap, and start. I hope @sayalakai will be your choice at a beginning we can share.

Tags: communication, community, conversation, digital learning, talking story, technological competence, Twitter, web apps

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:00 am and is filed under About Say Alaka‘i, Workplace Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.