The Tweets

Against all research and wellness guidelines, I usually have lunch at my desk. I've been trying to do better about breaking away from work to eat, whether it be to a table by the window in my office or actually running out, but it seems that this time defaults itself to eating & working.

I overheard a group of staff collaborating on curriculum together. One of them said, "Check out this awesome resource - have you seen this before?" He swiveled his laptop screen for others to see.

"Is that on Twitter?" another asked.

"Yeah! Here - let me open the link. I found it by searching with a hashtag on there." He went on to share with the group how he felt inspired by the book he is reading with another cohort inspired him to use social media more often to collaborate and connect with others.

"There is so much good stuff on there - you just have to follow some people and look to see if they've posted stuff you might use. Or just use a hashtag."

Feeling inspired myself, and forgetting that during lunch is a perfect time to get up to date on Twitter, I launched my account and clicked on lightning bolt icon "moments" to view the latest trending topics. The hashtags #IamLondon and #LondonAttacks were leading the list and I immediately clicked on them. With streams of information detailing terror attacks, thoughts-and-prayer statements, and "I'm safe" tweets, I found a post from CNN that took me to their site. Saying that what happened in London was awful undermines the severity of the situation. Instead, I want to focus on how people came together on social media.

This caught my eye from CNN - the bottom "latest" bulletin: "MPs trapped inside building turn to Twitter."

Posts from those working inside of Parliament sent updates to Twitter on the whereabouts of the attacks, their safety status, and other live, in the moment news that CNN played catch-up to. Others on the outside united together flooding Twitter with #IAmLondon statements. Soon, a stampede of #WeAreNightAfraid hashtags emerged to the feed like a surprise infantry brigade of 140 characters emerging from the wings in the nick of time.

Even a disagreement on social media transforms into a beacon of hope. Take a look at how author JK Rowling handles this: