Wednesday, May 25, 2011

5 Reasons Why I Now Follow CBC Community on Twitter



The gang behind social media for CBC Community are quite clever. Their Twitter community had me from hello. Here are five reasons why I decided to follow them today:

1. They politely told me that they had quoted me in an online piece. There are lots of cyborg-y, dehumanizing ways to do this -- and while those links may get a click throughs out of some morbid curiosity ("What are they saying about me"?), they never get followers. "@CarboneTony @AnthonyJGomez @Forest_Sofa @tipceee @ronmwangaguhung I've quoted you in my story, check it out: http://bit.ly/mBpf8c" is what they said. And I did. And I liked. So I'll be checking them on the regular on my Twitter feed.

2. They are highly interactive. Many, I would even say even most media Twitter accounts are dumping grounds for links. Read this; read that. But that gets tiresome and creates a one-way relationship, the exact opposite of what the social media revolution is about. CBC Community is not one way at all. The social media team interacts quite frequently with their audience, with surveys, photo caption challenges, with customer service, asking readers to participate in community blogs, with anything. And most of their blog posts end with question marks, maximizing the potential for conversation in the comments.

3. They are nice. They thank for Re-Tweets. Damn. Even I don't do that. All all Canadians this polite? They'll probably even thank me for this post and give me a link. Which would be nice.

4. They use social media to solicit awesome content. In the course of two hours -- two hours -- they both solicited and posted tornado damage photos from  Fox23 News photojournalist Lee Carter working out of Tulsa, Okla. If that isn't an effective and quick use of social media I don't know what is.

5. The CBC Community is fun, and isn't that one of the best reasons for why we participate in particular communities online? There is a seamless, cohesive and organic flow between all the moving parts of CBCs digital presence. Their Twitter account brings in all their content together in a way that neither clunky nor rambling.

I like the cut of their jib, and you should too.

Congratulations @kimfox, @aleegreenberg, @johnbowman, @msleeferguson and @adrianma -- the social media team at CBC Community: You run a tight ship.

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