Future of tweeting about unfamiliar subjects!

There’s a subtle mystery behind why James Bond has always been portrayed as the savior of the capitalist economy. He is the messiah of the British superpower whose villains are essentially from socialistic nations - Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Hungary, etc.

If Ian Fleming would have been alive now he would have definitely used the invincible power of social media to fortify James Bond in his latest appearance. The power of social media can be put to different use (or abuse) - the choice is completely vested with the knowledgeable and willing user. Twitter has been transformed as a public relations tool for keeping people informed by many agencies. Thus, secret agent James Bond with the help of followers online can gather snippets on everything - from the secretary of State’s remarks at Middle East peace talks to NASA’s take on commercial space travel. Further, James Bond can use Twitter to coordinate emergency response, meet his associates virtually or romance his woman, besides building network with others in their field.

Twitter is not just an Internet application that allows individuals to broadcast their thoughts and actions minute-by-minute on a massive blog. It definitely is beyond that. The omnipresent Social Media Enthusiasts probably overlook it. It’s time to break the perception that the tool is just for socializing, gossiping and keeping tabs on their friends’ whereabouts. It can also mean serious Social Business, a different method of conducting work, making relationships, sharing information, sense-making, situational awareness, etc.

Whether it is earthquake in Haiti or floods in Pakistan the Twitterverse has been extensively used for mission critical purposes - from crisis mapping to spreading salvage messages. But Tweets can take on a life of their own, and rumors are bound to spread. “Twitter offers agencies a chance to quickly correct misinformation”, says Luke Forgerson, who is managing editor of State’s blog StateDept and helps oversee the department’s Twitter account. For instance in March, State used Twitter to quash a rumor that Madagascar’s ousted president was in hiding at the island’s U.S. embassy. Officials were concerned the rumor would prompt an embassy attack so they Tweeted a denial of the episode.

NASA has been very active on Twitter and has drafted social media guidelines to help officials publicly converse outside of formal communication channels. The guidelines would also help the agencies to draw clear-cut lines so that employees do not break news on their Twitter accounts. In September last year an e-mail virus hit some of NASA’s servers, prompting employees to let colleagues know via Twitter and other social sites. Typically NASA employees would not even breathe a word about internal issue potentially impacting agency activities. But, immediacy and convenience of Twitter seem to remove that built-in filter people have when publicly discussing internal issues.

The definition of ‘internal’ would gradually change and thus, for years together, what was considered to be censored content even on private phone calls, people would think nothing of typing it on a giant message board for the world to see.

Isn’t that tweeting about un-familiar subjects? Dare you say a No!