CACHCA Twitter Tips – no. 4
“Enhancing the Conversation”
Reminders
The network of CHCs on Twitter is growing each week. Take a look again to see who is online. Follow
other CHCs: http://twitter.com/CACHCA_RCACCS/community-health-centres/members.
Community Health Centres Daily, a Twitter-based “newspaper” is published every afternoon, seven
days per week. This news digest captures all tweets from CHCs that include weblinks in the tweet. The
latest edition of the CHCs Daily is always available at http://paper.li/CACHCA_RCACCS/community-
health-centres. Click on dates in the calendar to see back issues. Since the CHCs Daily is formed by
what your CHC tweets about and what’s important to you locally, you shape the news!
Twitter works, but you have to work it! Are you sticking to your tweeting goals? A realistic goal, like
spending ten minutes per day or tweeting twice per day, will help you build the routine and frequency
needed to properly take advantage of this powerful tool.
Goal of CACHCA Twitter Tips no. 4
Twitter is a great tool to make announcements and share news. However, the real power and potential of
Twitter is as a two-way communication tool. This version of Twitter Tips provides some recommendations to
help turn Twitter from a simple “broadcast” tool into a two-way communication and engagement tool.
From “Chopsticks” to sweet music!
In Twitter Tips no. 2, we showed you the core functions of Twitter: Tweet, Re-Tweet, Reply and Direct
Message. We also showed you three core symbols: # , @ and RT. Together, these are like your basic musical
notes. The goal on Twitter is to pair these functions and symbols with your actual messages to make “music”!
If you are still using Twitter only to broadcast messages and news from your CHC, that’s a good start. In fact,
that’s where everyone starts on Twitter. However, you’re still missing a large part of what Twitter offers and
the major benefits to your CHC. Think of these one-way broadcast messages as the musical equivalent of
“Chopsticks” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. A good start, no doubt, but you want to be able to play a
Beethoven symphony, or a smooth Carlos Santana riff, right! Don’t worry, it’s actually quite easy to “get
there” on Twitter. Really, we promise!
The key is to use Twitter for two-way communication. You may not have noticed this yet, but every day, other
Twitter users are already having Twitter conversations about issues that are immediately relevant to your
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CHC. Some of them are also talking about your CHC and your services and programs. There are opportuities
right in front of you that you may not be aware of. For example:
Community partners are searching for linkages to enhance support for individuals in the community.
Many of these individuals are already your CHC clients or perhaps should be your clients.
Youth are discussing things going on in your community and issues affecting them. These are things
that can help CHC program staff to assess program priorities, and to better engage youth.
Nurses, physicians and other health care professionals are searching for local practice opportunities.
They are already having conversations with regional health authorities, Ministry of Health officials and
local agencies about healthcare practice options.
A variety of community members are looking for opportunities to volunteer, and for local agencies that
could use financial and other forms of support.
Funding agencies, foundations and organizations like the Canada Health Council are announcing
program opportunities, recruiting participants and looking for innovative examples of health and
healthcare efforts across Canada.
Are you a part of these conversations? Are you reaching members of the community and other organizations
that can help you advance your CHC’s mission and the clients you serve?
Truly becoming a part of the conversation
You first need to see what are others are saying and you need to begin engaging them. So how do you do this?
Take a look at the screenshot images below, listed as Conversation parts 1 and 2. This example shows how
CACHCA engaged a partner agency (Canada Health Council) in order to add something important to their
original tweet. In this case, the announcement of a new Canada Health Council report on social determinants
of health provided an opportunity to re-tweet and to add information about Tommy Douglas’s original vision
for the “Second Stage of Medicare” (see Conversation part 2, on the next page).
Conversation part 1: Original tweet
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Conversation part 2: CACHCA Re-tweet, with additional commentary
This engagement led to a series of additional tweets back and forth, and with other Twitter users sending
questions like “what is the Second Stage of Medicare” and “how does CACHCA think we could do a better job
in addressing the root causes of illness in Canada”. New doors were opened in advancing awareness and
understanding of the importance and role of community-led, comprehensive primary health care.
Just as in other forms of conversation, once two-way engagement has begun on Twitter, this tends to evolve
into dialogue and sharing. You will be amazed at the sorts of information, organizational practices and
partnerships that evolve from quick and easy forms of engagement on Twitter. Here’s how start having this
sort of Twitter conversation through your CHC Twitter account.
1. Using the basic Twitter tool (ie, your account at Twitter.com, click on the “Home” button at the top of
your Twitter account. You will see several fields, the most important being “Timeline” and “Mentions”.
2. Timeline: this provides you a real time stream of all the latest tweets from users that you are
“Following” on Twitter. Presumably, these are organizations and individuals that are in some way
connected to the vision or the work of your CHC. You’ll notice that when you scroll your mouse near a
tweet that appears in your timeline, the options to “Retweet” or “Reply” appear. When you see a
tweet that you think is important, re-tweet it so that you share it with your network of Followers. Or, if
it’s something that you want to comment on, “Reply” to it. REMEMBER: your reply will be posted
publicly on your Twitter account and for other Twitter users to see. So, be constructive and add to the
conversation…do what CHCs do best, build partnerships and a healthier community!
3. Mentions: here you’ll see a stream of all tweets in which your CHC (ie, your CHC on Twitter) is
mentioned by others. In the image on the next page, you’ll see that the latest entries in CACHCA’s
“Mentions” are a Retweet (RT) by Twitter user @AOHC_ACSO and another by Twitter user
@LNReynolds.
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CACHCA’s latest Mentions on Twitter
These other Twitter users were helping CACHCA to spread information -- about the latest edition of
Community Health Centres Daily and about the June 2011 CHCs Conference in Toronto. In your case, you
might see Re-tweets about things you have posted, or you may find that partner organizations are tweeting
about your CHC in the context of your local community. Here’s a hypothetical example of something you
might see:
@LocalPartner: Poor nutrition is a major issue in Beautiful Town. I wish the @BeautifulTownCHC would bring
back their morning breakfast program for kids.
Now, unless you were checking to see who on Twitter is mentioning your CHC (ie, @BeautifulTownCHC) you
would have no way of knowing that there is a Twitter conversation going on that directly refers to you -
unless, of course, you happened upon it accidentally. However, now that you know that this local partner
agency is raising an issue, you can “Reply” to engage them. Perhaps something like:
Thanks @LocalPartner. We’re currently exploring funding opportunities to reinstate this program, since it wasn’t
funded as a core program. We know it made a difference and there is still a huge need.
In the process, don’t be surprised if you soon see messages from other Twitter users who share an interest in
supporting this effort. You might see something like:
BTUnitedWay
Hey @BeautifulTownCHC: Great to see your interest in bringing back the morning breakfast program. This is
something that would qualify for our new Better Learning grant program. See www.btuwgrants.ca
And/or….
BTElemSchool
@BeautifulTownCHC: We hope the funding materializes. Let us know if and how our school can help, and if we
can help organize with families. Do you need space for the program?
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A conversation has begun! You are building partnerships and you are using Twitter to help enhance
opportunities for services and possibly even funding! By getting used to taking a look at the “Timeline” and
“Mentions” fields on your Twitter account, and by beginning to actually engage other Twitter users around
issues of importance and relevance to your CHC, you’ll begin to see real added value. You will begin to see
further how Twitter is not only a communications tool, but also a valuable operational tool…something to help
build, enhance and expand the reach of programs and services. The depth and the impact of these Twitter
exchanges will gradually begin to increase.
Another helpful tip: You may recall that in CACHCA Twitter Tips no. 3 we provided some tips about how to
condense your actual tweets and any weblinks (URLs) you want to include in your tweets. This included using
abbreviations and shortening your weblinks with an east tool we provided. If you haven’t mastered these yet,
take another look at those directions. They will make tweeting much easier, more enjoyable and more
effective for you.
The next stage of your Twitter adventure!
There are several third-party applications that most Twitter users agree are actually much easier and more
effective than the basic Twitter tool. These applications are referred to as “Twitter Dashboards” since they
provide the opportunity to spread out several key Twitter functions in front of you, visually, as if on a
dashboard. The key Twitter Dashboards are:
TweetDeck - www.tweetdeck.com
HootSuite - www.hootsuite.com
Nambu - www.nambu.com (for Mac users)
In an upcoming issue of CACHCA Twitter Tips we’ll provide more guidance on how to use these dashboards.
Our focus will be on TweetDeck, since this is the most widely-used Dashboard, and it’s also the one used by
CACHCA and several CHCs already. That said, all Dashboards serve similar purposes and it’s all about finding
the one you feel most comfortable with.
We suggest downloading TweetDeck at www.tweetdeck.com and taking a look at the tool. On the next page
we provide a visual of what the actual dashboard looks like, with some examples of how it enhances your
Twitter experience. This includes:
A. The tweet field. Similar to the tweet field on the twitter.com tool, except it also:
Automatically condenses long weblinks (URLs) for you. Just copy and paste them into this field
and they get automatically shortened
Allows you to actually edit the content of a message when you choose to Retweet something.
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B. The + symbol is what you click on to add columns to your dashboard. These can be columns of Twitter
users you are following, Mentions, and other options including different themes being discussed by
Twitter users (eg, #CHCs). You can display as many columns as you want.
C. Attach photos and videos to your Tweet with just a couple of simple clicks!
D. Pre-setting Tweets to go out at a certain time. By clicking here you can set tweets to go out on any day
and at any hour and minute. This is great if you are hosting an event, for example, or launching a
report and want to plan out communication from your CHC in advance.
E. When you scroll over the Twitter user’s logo you see multiple options including Reply, Retweet, Direct
Message and many others, including an option to email the tweet (it automatically links the tweet to
your email account so that you can share it with anyone you want by email.
B
C
A
D
E
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Multiple columns allow you to see a variety of streams. From L to R, CACHCA is simultaneously monitoring:
1. Tweets from all Twitter users that CACHCA follows
2. All tweets that mention @CACHCA_RCACCS
3. All tweets that reference CHCs using the Twitter hashtag #CHCs
4. All tweets that include the Twitter hashtag #cdnhealth, which is used by Twitter users to identify their
tweet as being focused on some dimension of health and/or healthcare in Canada
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