And Then I Joined Twitter

Three things happened at about the same time:

1. I sketched out something of a social media proposal for a Refuge for Saving the Wildlife, where I volunteer.
2. My friend and fellow volunteer, Susanna, read the proposal and asked if I am on Twitter.  No.  One might wonder how I sketched out said proposal if I am not even on Twitter.
3. My brother, who refuses to join Facebook, finished a story with, “And so I tweeted that to my congressman!”

So I signed up.  It took me 15 minutes just to claim a username, as the good variations of my name are already being used.

(sigh)

I followed a couple of people I know and gmail found me some more.   And then…what to tweet?

I am a blogger.  An amateur blogger, but still.  I should be able to come up with some great opening line, right?  This is the forum I will want to use to talk with my peers and promote my causes.  I’d better come up with something interesting to say!

Nothing.

So I started to look around for the ways these different accounts link together: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Crowdrise.  Then I realized that I hadn’t updated my Crowdrise page with the new location for the fundraiser the Refuge is holding on Memorial Day.  Thus my first ever (accidental) Tweet was:

Bird Walk location has changed: it is now at Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit - 30 Riverwoods Road.

Technology is beautiful, isn’t it?

So it was an inauspicious beginning.  The real question is how I might use this tool to network with other local volunteers?  How might the Refuge (or the other organizations I work with) use it to build and support their communities?  Will I be able to figure it out with all of the shiny objects they put in my path?

These are not rhetorical questions – any insight would be appreciated!