Ohio ARES® District 10 Now on Twitter

[W8DEC]

Like many other volunteer communications organizations, District 10, of the Ohio Amateur Radio Emergency Service®, is joining thousands of Twitter users. New to Twitter? According to the website, “Twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices”.

The intent is to provide another great tool for ARES® Leaders to reach out to people. There are people who do not read newsletters. There are hams who do not check into nets. There are radio operators who do not and/or cannot come to meetings. Why not take the opportunity to keep those people informed?

Announcements of ARES® meetings, nets, and public services events are just a few possibilities. It can also be used to announce technician classes and VE sessions to recruit new amateur radio operators. Don't forget about hamfest announcements. After all, hamfests can use all the exposure they can get these days.

Twitter is in the public eye. For our application, this is not the place to rant and rave, gripe, or complain. There are plenty of other places online who maintain a written record of that type of communication.

Feel free to follow the ARESDistrict10 Twitter page. Go to www.twitter.com and type in aresdistrict10 as all one word. Anyone can read the page but in order to follow the page, registration is required. Following the page will allow you to receive emails in your inbox anytime there is a new posting.

[NN4RH]

Wow. Twitter. You must be very proud.

[KG4RRN]

Yeah, now we can all just Twitter our lives away...
Is it copyright infrigement if I use the word Twitter?
hahahahahah

[N3XP]

Now I can get whacker updates delivered to my cellphone. Wonderful.

THIS IS NOT NEWS!

[KD8LWX]

Why Twitter? And this is Twitter in general, not twitter for ARES.

We have Snail mail and phone.
We have cell, pagers, txt messages.
We have email and most everyone I know has email to their phone.
I just don't understand twitter.

[W8DEC]

I researched Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace for about 8 weeks. I looked at how many communications organizations use those sites. Not only did I look at ARES/RACES groups but I also looked at ham radio clubs and amateur radio dealers. I also looked at how many times Facebook and MySpace have crashed or been hacked into. Thus the reason for choosing Twitter. Granted, it's not ham radio. I knew that long before I started my research.

I am now sure how license exam and hamfest announcements fall under the "whacker" category, but I guess to each their own.

So here's the bottom line. I fail to see the harm in using an existing vehicle to inform future radio operators and seasoned veterans who routinely use the internet. It would never be used in an emergency because obviously it's internet dependent. I wouldn't say it's not a matter of pride, but a matter of moving with technology. To prove my point, I managed to get several responses on QRZ.com.

[N3XP]

You have 8 followers. Great marketing tool, Twitter and QRZ.

[W8DEC]

Yes, there are eight followers on the District 10 Twitter page. The page was just created a week ago today. There were only a few PSK users when it first came out. People were skeptical. Now look at it, it's one the most used digital modes today. Give it some time. This is only the beginning.

QRZ. As of this writing, the announcement on QRZ has been reviewed 112 times since November 1st. Only a handful have actually responded.

Originally Posted by N3XP

You have 8 followers. Great marketing tool, Twitter and QRZ.