Is Twitter the end of the Oxfam story?
For now, Oxfam isn’t tweeting “Savin4change helps 180k poor ppls get $ yay!” to tell donors about our successful community finance program. But that day may not be far off.
April 16th, 2009 | by Anna KramerOxfam : ) Poverty : (
That’s what I told my colleague Tim our new tagline will be before long. And while it’s not quite that bad yet, I wasn’t completely joking.
It all started with a conversation about Twitter, which, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, is an important new communications tool. Over nine million people are actively tweeting these days; I’ve seen that little blue logo popping up everywhere of late, on website I visit, on blogs I read, and even on ads.
And NGOs aren’t exempt from the frenzy. Oxfam America has our own Twitter feed, which recently reached our goal of 1,000 followers. Almost overnight, this condensed, gibberish-ridden, 140-character limit medium–which I thought would be only a passing fad–has become one of the fastest-growing ways for people to hear about our work.
Right now, Twitter often functions as a mere vehicle for links to other websites. But I’ve noticed a lot of people use it for more than that. They share activities, confess their feelings, and hold entire conversations. It’s only a matter of time before the outside references slip away, and the Twitter-verse becomes meaningful in and of itself.
And that freaks me out.
As a writer, I fear that my skill–my one marketable, useful skill–could become obsolete in a sea of @s and LOLs. And as a nonprofit communicator, I fear that Twitter undermines everything I try to do: Use words. Tell stories. Talk about people.
At first I cracked up at the UK Guardian’s April Fools story that all of their news would be delivered via Twitter from now on. But when I think about it, it isn’t quite as funny.
I imagine Oxfam writers coming back from the field in the not too distant future. To get the word out, we’d tweet about our experiences, crafting bits of tiny shorthand to share with followers. They’d then re-tweet, passing things on, sure, but not really connecting anyone to the heart of our story–the people and organizations we work with on the ground. With space for only 140 characters, I wonder: Where do those voices fit in?
Of course, that’s a worst-case scenario. For now, Oxfam isn’t tweeting “Savin4change helps 180k poor ppls get $ yay!” to tell donors about our successful community finance program. We’re using Twitter as a means to share Oxfam videos and written stories, including this blog; and as a way to keep our supporters up to date on our work, which is always a good thing.
But maybe the days of the former aren’t far off. And I don’t know about you, but I can only say :O
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Anna Kramer
Writer Anna Kramer joined Oxfam America in 2005. Based in Boston, she covers a broad range of issues for Oxfam, with a focus on our campaigns and organizing work.
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Anna,
Great article. I’m a writer also, and I want to applaud you for creating another existential fear for me. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that twitter, and other social media, devalue the importance of clean, concise copy. That’s terrifying.
I wonder if Twitter is more an awareness tool than a communication one. The distinction wasn’t there in the past, but now we have so many options to get our information. Static pages, Facebook, Twitter, TV… this newest media is just more open. Hopefully, people will still want to get the full story (written by us!)
Maybe Twitter can be the commercial –the tool that grabs you by your interest and says “Hey, you should really pay attention to this.” Since you are a communicator advocating social justice, I think the most important tool is being to do just that.
I get where you are coming from, but I would not be too woried about it. What twitter does is give anyone with a keyboard a voice. Most of it is just a lot of chatter, but it can be useful if you are following the right people – like I would not have read this posting if I had not been looking at my twitter feed. When people find something they like, they retweet it over and over again, but someone has to write that original story.
I don’t want to read twitter to get all my information about Oxfam, I just want to be notified that there is something new here to read. And while a lot of people are using twitter to get that info out right now, I find that an RSS feed or even a real email serves the same purpose. Actually, RSS and email are a lot easier to deal with as they are more permanent than this scrolling tweet window…
@Anna
I also laughed off Twitter as a passing internet fad but after realizing that it wasn’t going away anytime soon I threw in the towel and joined. Now not only am I a regular tweeter but I find myself marveling at how fast people are building around this tweenomenon. There are tons of Twitter applications – from powerful micro-finance applications like http://www.twitpay.me and http://tipjoy.com, that can, by the way help #NGO’s expand their donor base, to incredibly inane “it’s all about me” applications like http://twazzup.com. So even though Twitter may be society’s “manure”, the applications it cultivates may grow to help feed us someday.
Great post & great title. As I’ve been tracking all national Oxfam’s “sites” for more than 3 years now, I can tell you almost all of them are twittering now. http://delicious.com/oxfamworld/twitter
Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful comments on my post. t’s funny… since posting this, I’ve noticed Twitter is something that almost everyone seems to have a strong opinion about, whether pro or con. Whatever it means for Oxfam, it’s certainly making a mark on our zeitgeist at this moment. And it’s great to hear people’s insights and ideas about the medium, so please keep them coming!
@oxfamAnna I <3 yr post. Will RT to all my tweeps!
;)
I’ve been on Oxfam America mailing list since March of 2003, when the American Water Works Association sent out a plea from Oxfam International for water professionals to be ready to assist in Iraq with rebuilding critical infrastructure.
Thanks to the email list, I am signed up for an upcoming volunteer opportunity at a Coldplay concert in our state. Checking up on @oxfamamerica twitterfeed is a quick way to scan for new content.
I can understand your concerns, but here’s the good news – I found your blog post via Twitter! Even with RSS feeds, it’s hard to stay up with posts from my favorite blogs, and even harder to find new blogs to read. Although there are many benefits and interests that I am able to foster with Twitter, the greatest I see is “social media for social good”. The opportunity to reach out to people and get them involved, in their community and globally.
The success of Twestival on 12 February 2009 is a good example. 202 cities around the world held local Twestivals, bringing together the Twitter community for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water. Over $250,000 was raised, and the first well was in April drilled which you can see at http://www.charitywater.org/twestival/
Keep up the great work and writing!
@snax
Maybe Twitter to writing is like haiku to all forms of poetry — just one of many, but with a very limited range of thoughts or images in each one…