I was encouraged to set up a Twitter account and tweet, partly because social media is increasingly important in bringing about system change. I didn’t know how to tweet so I thought this was a big problem.
If I’m honest the expectation of me tweeting filled me with fear. I didn’t know how the world of social media worked, what the rules and conventions were, and felt incompetent because of my lack of social networking skills. I felt I would not function well in that social world and so I anxiously avoided it. I reflected on my experience, and considered the homeless people with complex trauma who we are trying to help often feel this way about their social world – confused and overwhelmed about how it works and often anxiously avoiding it through the repetitive excess of alcohol, drugs or self-harming. I thought about what my friend and fellow System Broker Richy Cunningham says – that if I am trying to encourage both the people with experience of complex trauma needs and the system that serves them to change then I should be willing to change as well. (Richy is based @oasisaquila)
I decided to overcome my fear of social media by asking for help.
I asked someone who knew the social media world of Twitter better than me, my friend and fellow System Broker, Alex Smith @AlexLSmith1983 based at @ChangingLives_ to advise me. She showed me how to tweet, explained I could ‘retweet’ what someone else said, that I needed to ‘follow’ other people (Twitter allows you to follow up to 2000 people, many of whom might ‘follow’
you back).
I started tweeting about 10 weeks ago and I was worrying about where I was heading on this adventure.
It was stressful and confusing at first. I found that restricting what I said to 140 characters was difficult. I started having conversations with other people and I read up on how the social world of Twitter works. Someone tweeted they thought my tweets were ‘just trying to be clever’. I felt hurt and self-conscious about this and I reflected that social media is a bit like social life in general; some people will be encouraging and others will be critical, but I should be brave and not let criticism make me withdraw from social media.
By having conversations with other people interested in the same topics I worked out how to be myself. I decided to Tweet about something I knew about and had personal experience with – recovery from trauma and addiction.
I had written an article in Context Magazine about my recovery from trauma and a revolutionary approach to mental health called Open Dialogue. I tweeted a link to websites that had posted my article (http://bit.ly/1zyLEfe) and taught myself how to make a film and post it on You Tube. I tweeted links to these films, one about my recovery and another about the Psychologically Informed Environments (PIEs) we are piloting at Fulfilling Lives to help services improve and be more trauma informed (http://bit.ly/1zyLEfe). I also posted links to other resources and websites to try to help others.
To my surprise the number of people following me on Twitter has grown to over eight thousand.
So, I found that social media is a bit like the social world – if I was brave and had a go and then reflected on what happened, I could learn and adapt to this world. I built relationships with others by being genuine and honest, working out what my “niche” area was and have stuck to it. I continue to build relationships and learn as I develop an influence on Twitter and allow myself to be influenced by what others say. I try to help others and promote their resources and not just promote my own views. I think I have a lot more to learn about Twitter and social media, but I really enjoy Twitter and would encourage anyone to overcome their fear and have a go, although it will not suite everyone.
Be aware, it’s a journey of building relationships in a social context and not a destination. Work out what your values are and stick to them. Be yourself, even thought that is constantly changing. We are unfinalised personalities dialoguing between our interweaving narratives.
Hope this has been helpful
You can follow me on Twitter @Dialogical_Ray
