Twitter Helps Leaders “Think Global”

by Linda Fisher Thornton

At one point in the process of learning new social media channels, I actually said that I would never go on Twitter (In case you missed the post with that story, it was “Leaders and Social Media: 5 Reasons to Engage”).  I’ve learned quite a few things since the day I started on Twitter – April Fool’s Day 2010 – and I want to share what I have discovered about the learning impact of Twitter.

Twitter helps us learn to “think global” in a connected global society. It can transform us, the way we think, and the way we do business. It keeps us current, connects us with a global network of information and provides real-time data. In this post, I’ve sprinkled in some statistics along with my own observations about the learning benefits of Twitter.

Twitter Keeps us Current

• Twitter helps us realize that social media is a vibrant and essential element of business communication, and it helps us get into the conversation.

• Twitter connects us to people who are passionate about the same things we are passionate about, and to people who think differently from the way we think, and we can learn from each other.

• Twitter is a powerful tool for learning about new and emerging issues and research. Many people post drafts of their work to get feedback from followers, and reach out to each other to share information.

• Twitter helps us “think global” and learn about other countries. In the course of a week, we might connect with people on Twitter from dozens of countries, and we may need to use Google Translate to find out what they’re saying to us. What a way to build a global mindset!

 Twitter Enables Today’s Social Business

• Twitter helps us connect with our readers, customers, colleagues, and partners. Today’s customer wants to engage with businesses on social media, and being there helps our business connect, survive and thrive.

• Twitter helps us find out what people need that we may be able to provide.

• Twitter helps us build credibility. When we connect, we have the opportunity to articulate our mission, and to inform others about how we can solve their problems with our services.

• Twitter keeps us from becoming insulated. Engaging in dialogue on Twitter keeps us connected and aware.

Twitter Gives Us Real-Time Data 

With around 2,200 new tweets per second (whitefireseo.com), aggregating words mentioned in tweets provide unusually interesting information that can be updated continually. For example, take a look at the article Track Disease Trends on Twitter With Mappy Health by Mary C. Long.

Statistics to Tweet About

81% of respondents believe that CEOs who engage in social media are better equipped than their peers to lead companies in a web 2.0 world.

82% of respondents were more likely or much more likely to trust a company whose CEO and leadership team engage with social media.

78% of respondents would prefer to work for a company whose leadership is active on social media.

Brandfog.com, 2012 CEO, Social Media and Leadership Survey

Internally, CEOs who are engaged on social media are able to break down counterproductive silos and facilitate greater communication and collaboration with the company.

Douglas Burdett, How Social Media Engagement Can Help B2B CEOs, business2community.com

Stages of Learning Twitter

These articles explain the stages of learning Twitter:

• 5 Stages to Mastering Twitter by Russell Allert, BakedSocialMedia.com
• The Five Stages of Getting Twitter by Shea Bennett, All Twitter, Mediabistro.com
• Twitter Learning Stages (Infographic) article by Luc Gallopin, Infographic by andfaraway.net
• Teachers: The 10 Stages of Twitter by Daniel Edwards, syde.wordpress.com

As we connect socially on Twitter, we naturally begin to expand our network globally. We begin to realize that the world is one community, and we begin to “think global.”