The wealth and depth of community that is the “Twittersphere”
Many people might think that Twitter is a place where people go to post inanities about their lives, but to tell you the truth the Twittersphere is also a place where a wealth of knowledge, experience and perspective is shared each and every minute of the day.
It can be at one level a vapid, self interested and empty place, but at another more important and richer level it can represent everything that is good about humanity. The Twittersphere is both what it is and what you want to make of it – it grows as you grow.
I use twitter to connect with the pulse of those who are interested in or affected by the caring of the young and old, of those with Alzheimers, Parkinsons and cancer and other afflictions and needs. They come from all perspectives: the carer, the family member, the afflicted, the researcher, the service provider; the vein is rich and the perspective is wide.
I use Twitter to find out the latest news and research, to pass on important perspective and to add to my own energy, thoughts and emphasis. But I also use Twitter to touch base with the state of humanity, its empathy, its creativity, its spark and its belief in the good in all of us.
Twitter is a virtual community and its community is about active engagement. Its engagement is of tremendous value to the terra firma community we all inhabit. Can Twitter breathe life into our world by creating links between us all? I think it can and I think it should be used to create the links between ourselves, our world and especially our communities that we can inhabit and use to enrich our lives as we age and as the focus and gel of our working and family lives dissipate.
Twitter is like all the libraries, all the conferences, all the coffee shops, all the events and all the experiences of life at your fingertips. it can be used to replicate any environment or to create environments.
There are more places to go in Twitterland than you can imagine. It is not how you start your relationship with twitter that is important, but how you develop it and what you make of it. I believe that we have only just seen the tip of its fabric and its character and its application.
