I’m Not Him
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A small portion of the folks who follow me on Twitter think I’m Omar Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. I know this because every so often they’ll Direct Message me with news about developments in Kashmir (usually holding me accountable for it), or they’ll post an article about some Kashmir related issue and tag me along with the Prime Minister of India and other senior South Asian politicians.
It doesn’t happen a lot but it’s happened enough that I posted a PSA on Twitter that I wasn’t him and if you were following me for my views on Kashmir, you’d be sorely disappointed.
The thing is, if those folks spent even a couple of minutes looking at my posts, my retweets, my likes, etc., they’d quickly begin to wonder why the guy they thought was the former chief minister of Kashmir was posting about strategy, procurement, entrepreneurs, Arsenal football club and constantly poking fun at Spurs football club (though really we all should be poking fun at Spurs) - and never posting about politics in general, much less Kashmiri politics.
But clearly they don’t. They simply create an account and then jump right in so that they can have a target or an outlet for their concerns and frustrations. Which is, of course, their right - and part of the reason that platforms such as Twitter have emerged to such success.
But if you’re going to get your voice across and, more importantly, you want to be heard, it’s incumbent on you to do a little homework so that the message you have to convey is done to best effect.
So if you happen to be one of those folks, here are my 5 suggested steps before you follow, DM or tag someone in one of your posts:
What’s your message? It’s important to be on point, clear and concise.
Who needs to hear the message? Figure out who the message is for. Can they do something to help spread or embed your message?
Is the platform you’re using the right one? Does the intended target even utilize the platform? How often? To what effect?
Are you conveying the message in a way that is engaging? That will promote the agenda you’re trying to get engagement on?
Are you being consistent and persistent in your message delivery?
The problem on media such as twitter is that most of the time these questions aren’t answered, thought through or even considered. Most of the time, it’s the virtual equivalent of throwing rocks against a building.
It’s an outlet (not always productive or appropriate) for rage. And there’s no value in that.
It’s better if we do a bit of homework, get clear on what we want to say and how. Get our target audience spot in.
So, if you’re one of those folks who think I’m that guy, I’m not.
If that mean’s you’ll unfollow me, then that’s OK, no hard feelings. (Or better yet, don’t unfollow me, but do get engaged in the content I do publish).
And, of course, always keep poking fun at Spurs...
