I realise that for many, social media and Twitter will be considered a trivial and needless distraction. I think it is worth considering and this is why. Contrary to common opinion, I avoid “tweeting” about what I am doing (and will stop following those who do!). For me it has three valuable functions:-
It is a great news feed. RCGP Chair Clare Gerada[i] gives the latest on her work in the college. The met office[ii] warns me about gales and severe weather, BBC News[iii] updates me on major events and the trusty Ross-shire Journal[iv] gives me a more local flavour…
I get a chance to pass other information on to those who follow me. I have started recording good journal articles using twitter with the hashtag #eJournalClub. I’m hoping this will make collecting evidence for my appraisal easy and they may just be interesting to others and invite debate or be “re-tweeted”. I was delighted when a tweet with a link to my blog[v] inviting museums to be involved in the Dewar Report project quickly resulted in an interview[vi] with @andyinverness for BBC RadioScotland.
And finally you sometimes just come across things quite by chance. I’ve never been a Telegraph reader but @amcunningham retweeted an amazing article by Graham Norton[vii]. In it he describes his reaction to reading a letter sent in by a reader who was witnessing the slow death of a loved one from Lewy Body Dementia. He ends his reply: –
“Don’t be too hard on your husband or friends. This is the worst bit. Soon there will be a funeral and everyone will know how to act around you again. We all understand death and mourning but what you are going through at the moment is in a way much worse and harder to understand.
There is no wrong way to feel right now. Be furious. Be heartbroken. Be glad she’s gone. Be lonely. It seems so unlikely, but time will heal all of this and then you and your brother and the rest of your family and friends can remember the woman your mother really was.
Don’t let this horrible end rob you of the amazing story that went before.”
For me his letter gave a remarkable insight into the life of a carer and his response was compassionate and heartfelt. I recommend looking up the full article[viii].
Maybe see you on Twitter soon!
(This article was first published in the RCGP North of Scotland Faculty winter 2011 newsletter)
Glossary:
Twitter – A micro blogging site. Usernames for twitter will start @… Such as @milesmack. Click here for an excellent blog on how to get started[ix]
Retweet – the process of passing on a tweet to your followers
Hashtag These act as keywords and are just words with the hash sign attached at the front, such as #NHSreform or #RCGP. Clicking on a hashtag will find tweets on the same topic.
Blog – A web diary or journal, mine is https://milesmack.wordpress.com/about/
Social media – any of the ways of using the internet to create an interactive space for discussion such as Twitter Facebook or Google+
[i] @clarercgp – She recently lectured on twitter, worth a read: – http://www.rcgp.org.uk/docs/twittertalk.doc
[ii] @metofficeNWScot
[iii] @BBCBreaking
[iv] @Rossnews
milesmack 
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