To Twitter or Not to Twitter?

As Director of Media Communications for our great RTP AITP Chapter, that’s the question I’ve been asking myself this past year. We already have a LinkedIn page with about 400 members, which has been a very useful social networking tool for connecting our members and spreading the word about upcoming meetings and events. But listening to Wayne Sutton during our September meeting inspired me to get our RTP AITP Chapter on Twitter! Some of you may also remember our speaker from March of 2009, Heather Hollick of Rizers, who spoke on ‘Enhanced Networking in a World of Social Media’. She explained how the strength of our networks depends on how often we ‘pulse’ that connection with one another. Tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn make it easy to ‘pulse’ and keep up to speed with what’s important and what is going on with those whom we care about. The more pulses you have, the greater your relationships will be with those in your network. Another past AITP speaker, Dr. Shannon Tufts of UNC School of Government, discussed Web 2.0 and deemed Twitter to be one of the social networking tools that was not merely a fad, but was here to stay. It was with Wayne, Heather, and Dr. Tufts in mind that @aitpRTP on Twitter was born!

Twitter is a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, it’s a virtual water cooler. For others, it’s a great way to get answers to questions. For many organizations and companies, it’s an important way to stay connected to members, clients, consumers and prospects. The way I see it, Twitter is just one additional way for our chapter to be even more connected with each other and our community, so we truly can optimize the educational and networking benefits we get from being a part of this organization. We want our Twitter presence to be as valuable to you as possible, and will shape our Twitter content based on your recommendations. Contact us with questions, ideas and suggestions. You can email me at Allison@selectgroup-rtp.com or tweet me @aitpRTP.

But most importantly, follow us on Twitter and spread the word to those you know. We look forward to connecting and tweeting with you!

Allison Kary

Director of Communications, Media