No longer do I trawl through weighty email communications from organisations whose agenda and ideologies we share here at The National Youth Agency (NYA). Instead I simply sift their latest Tweets. A couple of daily scans give updates in snapshots - enough to digest quickly and links to follow if I need them.
The value of Twitter comes from how you choose to participate. In my view it's not about what you contribute to it but who you choose to follow within it. I use my work account to constantly graze for information - news that's relevant for my work, current, up to date - it feeds me snippets of information on all manner of topics that I can follow up if I want to.
Or you can use the service like a mini-blog. Where are you going, what comment do you have to make on issues affecting you, what's in the news ...? You can of course do a bit of both. I rarely offer comments but into the mix I throw the headlines picked up by The NYA's daily press scanning services - Youth Issues News. These are relevant to me, my work and hopefully, to those who have chosen to follow me.
It's easy to criticise Twitter. It is vast, filled with egocentric ramblings, a space awash with idiosyncratic observations and potentially pointless monologues from celebrities, comedians, commentators, news reporters and film stars. Is Twitter a flash in the pan? Maybe. But I have quickly gained an enthusiasm for this phenomenon, and I'm not alone. In a time when we are overloaded with information, having one source where I can disregard as much as I read, I find my day enriched by the range and diversity Twitter offers me.
NYA staff are also taking the Twitter plunge. Chief executive Fiona Blacke is keeping us up to date as she travels around the country and Peta Halls from the Crime and Youth Justice team has recently returned from a study visit in the US where she kept colleagues up to date through her Tweets.
Follow us on www.twitter.com/EstherNYA, www.twitter.com/PetaNYA or www.twitter.com/FionabNYA.
- Esther Cameron is co-ordinator of The NYA website, she can be contacted on estherc@nya.org.uk or Twitter.
