I'm celebrating my first anniversary on Twitter today.
I've been "on" Twitter for longer actually, but for the first few weeks, posted no tweets, and didn't bother keeping track of milestones like my first follower, and the first exciting time a soul in the vast Twitterverse retweeted me.
Apparently, that's all pretty typical of a lot of Twitter users: signing up, then wondering, What the heck was I thinking? Can anyone honestly be articulate in 140 characters? Who cares what I'm having for breakfast? Are all these people mad?
A year later, I've seen for myself how much people on Twitter talk about Israel. Some of the conversation is ugly, but many people have a genuine, honest curiousity and are simply misinformed. Other people are interested in information, ideas,or witty bon mots that can help them be more effective advocates.
But more importantly, I've learned that you only get out of Twitter as much as you put in. This means taking the time to network with others. The more you do that, the easier it is for others to find you. This is putting the "social" in social media.
With that in mind, here are a few active tweople worth following: @Daroff, @davidsaranga, @davidhazony, @tamarabraham, @Forecasthighs, @Martin_Kramer, @ASoldiersMother @JewishChron, @IsraelDC, @israeluk,@HonestRepCanada and, of course, @HonestReporting. You can follow me at @mediabackspin.
I wish I could list more people; for further networking, check out the people I'm following and the people following me.
Speaking up for Israel means taking the initiative being active. Join the conversation.
UPDATE Aug. 6: Bah humbug! Thanks to some denial-of-service attack on Twitter, I can't even tweet my own birthday.
