Greetings, Twitter colleagues!
This is to let you know why I Twitter, who follows me and my "follow" and "lists" policy.
Why I twitter
- I wear a few hats. I use Twitter to receive and circulate information and news about conflict transformation, peacebuilding, international human rights, nonviolence, reconciliation, relief and development. Sometimes I post things I find just plain interesting, inspiring or funny or... And from time to time I may make a shameless plug about something I'm doing or an organization with which I'm involved. I've worked in the field of conflict resolution since 1983 and in the related field of international human rights since 2004. I am based in Canada and work in several countries in academic, community, nonprofit, public and private sectors. I'm a co-founder of Peacemakers Trust, a Canadian non-profit organization for education and research in conflict transformation and peacebuilding, which, by the way, could use donors to maintain and expand its work. If you want to know more about me you can visit my bio page.
Who follows me?
- I welcome followers whose twitters suggest they may have genuine interest in subjects on which I twitter.
Whom do I follow?
Since Twitter created "lists", I follow fewer people. Instead I use lists. Why?
- It's overwhelming to have hundreds of people to follow. One can read very few messages.
- If I'm interested in what someone has to say or news they are posting, I may put them on a list (whether or not I agree with their politics or ideologies.)
- This also applies to those who follow (and seem to have genuine interest in the subject matter of) @peacemakers_ca, which posts news, events and twitters of Peacemakers Trust but does not itself follow or list anyone accept its associates and its affiliated topical twitter pages.
Why I may not list you
Here are the main reasons I don't list someone:
- Their twitters aren't too relevant to my interests (sorry).
- They post what they're doing, but without any links to more information so that I can learn more (again, sorry).
- Their twitters suggest they are following primarily to get more followers to promote their services or products. I also block these folk (not the least bit sorry).
- Many of their postings are disconnected bits of discussion with other twitterers that I can't understand (sometimes a bit sorry).
- Their twitters get me down: I prefer not to follow those who frequently complain about or argue with other twitterers in unconstructive, acrimonious or abusive ways on the public twitter stream (not too sorry).
- They twitter up to 20 or more times an hour, swamping any list they're on. Or they repeat repeat repeat themselves a lot, using robots to send the same message over and over and over again several times a week after week after week (sorry... I don't want to sort through prodigious amounts of chaff for occasional golden tweets. While they may have a lot of followers, I wonder how many they retain).
- They are focused on spam, discrimination, racism, hatred, pornography. I block and report these folk as soon as I can. (definitely not sorry).
- Why so sorry? Consider it a cultural trait ! [YouTube]
Best wishes and good twittering!