Keep talking #GetTheHeraldDigital

“For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk”

Pink Floyd, 1994

Now this isn’t an advert for you all to use your mobile phones more, they are probably glued to your ear or your fingertips most of the time already so relax.

It is more of a request to businesses on Twitter to interact and talk to people rather than just broadcast your latest sales message.

A number of months ago I noticed the twitter account for our local newspaper “The Farnham Herald” (@farnhamherald) simply broadcast messages relating to the stories it was running in the next print edition. I mentioned it to them on Twitter but they didn’t acknowledge or reply. It doesn’t follow anyone, it doesn’t interact or enquire and to me it doesn’t consider local people and businesses an important resource for interesting articles. The cynic says they just want money to advertise when we don’t have anything to advertise but a good story to tell.

Since the explosion of social media, newspapers and other media outlets have found it incredibly different to break the news, Twitter has stories (and a whole lot of unsubstantiated rumours) well before the newspapers can print or the TV stations report, even with 24 hour news channels. It takes seconds to Tweet and at least minutes to set up a live video feed or hours to send a story to print.

There is a solution, I don’t have the necessary skills to make it happen but Farnham is full of awesome, digital experts who can help with these things. It may require a budget and that takes planning so in the meantime, keep talking, humans like to interact, it is what makes us special.

A few mentions of @farnhamherald and #GetTheHeraldDigital may be enough to get them thinking. And don’t forget to support your local paper by buying it on Thursday 🙂