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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Twitter: better than a phone tree

I can remember several episodes from my life in which I was at the emergency room with my wife, son, or daughter, while family members waited anxiously for word. At other times, I was on the waiting end, pacing and wondering exactly what was going on.

Heuer and WellsAs I write this, my friend and colleague Chris Heuer is at the emergency room. He awoke this morning with pain in his arm. He’d gone through some medical issues before but had felt better over the last week. The issue with his arm led him and his wife, Kristie Wells, to head to the hospital, where his blood pressure—which had been 120/80—has spiked to 170/111. At this moment, he’s in the waiting room and has been for a while; the fact that the doctors at Kaiser-Permanente don’t sense an urgent need to treat him is, Kristie hopes, a good sign.

I know all this becuase Chris and Kristie are keeping their connections up to date on events through Twitter. They could, of course, just use the phone, but not to call everyhone who cares about them. I have plenty of experience with that kind of communication:

“Hi, Mom. Here’s the update. Ben split open the skin on his forehead, where there are a lot of blood vessels, which accounts for the bleeding. But he’s okay. They put six stitches in him, and we’ll be leaving soon. Could you call everyone and let them know?”

Mom, however, only calls my great aunt and my brother. She asks my brother to call my sister and a couple cousins, and my great aunt to call a few others. The telephone tree approach is tedious, time-consuming, results in the dissemination of inaccurate information and relies on each individual to do his or her bit.

Twitter’s strength is in its ability to reach everyone who’s interested in you, right now. The same approach can easily work for business—as some businesses have learned.

My thoughts and prayers are with Chris and Kristie right now. Thanks to Twitter, I’m informed enough to know to send them.

(Note: The photo of Chris and Kristie is from Mary Tsao’s Flickr page.)

02/03/08 | 4 Comments | Twitter: better than a phone tree

Comments

  • 1.Shel, I've seen others use Twitter during visits to the hospital, including Laura Fitton (@Pistachio), Jeff Pulver, and Susan Reynolds. They used Twitter to help keep us informed, yes, but I know it also helped them to feel connected during what were surely scary and otherwise isolating experiences.

    I also send my best wishes to Chris and Kristie.

    Bryan Person, Bryper.com | February 2008 | Boston

  • 2.When I injured my back & ribs after a particularly nasty fall down my (incredibly sloped) driveway in December, I finally made the decision to go to the ER. I nonchalantly tweeted that I was waiting to be seen and was truly touched by the outpouring of replies and direct messages - including one imploring me to call her in her car to see if she could do anything.

    But I wouldn't have gotten that kind of reaction if I hadn't taken the time to build, care and feed my own network. It's precisely because I had been someone who was willing to put others first that when the time came, others were willing to return the favor for me.

    It just goes to show that the mantra that 'the love you take is equal to the love you make.' David Maister addresses this in his book Strategy and the Fat Smoker, and I wrote about it on my blog nearly a year ago: http://www.scottmonty.com/2007/02/media-you-take-is-equal-to-media-you.html

    I hope that everything works out for Chris and that today he felt the love of his friends & colleagues.

    Scott Monty | February 2008 | Greater Boston, MA

  • 3.Thanks Shel - you are right on many fronts here, but I am also a bit concerned about putting this face forward too to so many people, rather than just the immediate circle. Its interesting to note the younger generations comfort with putting all messages on 'walls' or in public.

    Many people wished me well publicly and I replied to almost everyone with a direct Tweet, rather than publicly - in some instances because I knew them more or less, but in each case because I wanted to let them know that it mattered enough to me to send a personal note in return.

    As I am sitting here, much of the drama has passed, but with no real diagnosis yet other than to continue the cipro and hope the infection goes away. My temporary paralysis this am was dismissed out of hand as just sleep paralysis, which happens, and 'we dont know why' according to Dr. Pinsky in the ER, who looked at me but did not examine me. My BP was up supposedly because of anxiety, which makes sense. Hopefully I am just being overly cautious because of the other health issues I have been facing - but really it is all about the fact that I want to live, I want to build a family with Kristie, and as my friend Robin said to me a short time ago, this is not how you are supposed to spend your first year of marriage...

    So enough of me and being sick, I am going to go out for a little while and try to live a bit and focus on the good stuff, like twittering and Uttering about Super Bowl commercials :)

    Chris Heuer | February 2008

  • 4.This is a very personal example. I also used Twitter to inform everyone that Chloe was born. I sent the message from the recovery room. It was cool to get the responses and I felt a lot less pressure to get out an e-mail to everyone.

    Twitter has an immediacy that is valued by its users. I also see a number of crisis comms uses for the platform, but worry about its reliability, for now.

    Kami Huyse | February 2008

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