SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 NEWS) - By most accounts and measures, ABC 4's immigration summit Tweet-a-thon was a success.
I (cvan4 on Twitter) punched out about 100 Tweets from the governor's summit
and more than 700 people followed the Tweets on ABC 4's website.
Some had a breaking news feel - when the building was hit by a power outrage.
Some were more informative - when Police Chiefs Greiner and Burbank showed real emotion over Arizona's immigration law.
And, finally, some were of a lighter note - when I suggested all the officials and experts should break out into a musical number
like they do on the TV show, "Glee."
But, about halfway through - just when I was feeling pretty good about my tweeting - it hit me.
Most of the reporters, bloggers, journalists, etc. were all, more or less, tweeting the same thing.
So and so said this, so and so said that.
Etc.
Now, don't get me wrong.
With the possible exception of me :), there were some good reporters in the room Tweeting away.
And the majority of their tweets were quite useful, occasionally humorous.
Still, I was struck by a moment of clarity.
It isn't enough to just sit there and Tweet away.
The Tweets not only have to be informative and current and useful and funny and spelled correctly,
they have to be different then the other Tweets
After all, this is a new, potentially powerful medium, why stick to the old rules?
Now, this isn't to say that cvan4 will suddenly go all a twitter and start writing some really wacky stuff.
But it does mean that it's not enough to sit in a room and Tweet what everybody
else is.
If you do that, you will eventually turn off your Twitter followers and be left all alone with the other
Tweeters, a bunch of high tech birds chirping away in cyberspace.
