The Shorty Award Interview

I’ve been kindly nominated for a Shorty Award in the Networking category. The Shorty Awards are aimed at honouring the best producers of short real-time content (on Twitter), and nominations are made by twitter users (like @fotofacade who first nominated me).
When I was nominated I received a message and visited the site – it asked me to fill out a survey, and as I did it occurred to me that the answers might be useful to people wanting to understand more about how I use twitter, and maybe encourage some discussion about how other people use it.
So here they are.

What’s your best tweet?

Looks like @CombatStress needs someone to handle their twitter account. Can anyone help? CombatStress@live.co.uk http://www.combatstress.org.uk/

What are six things you could never do without?

My son, my husband, my iphone and three coffees a day

How do you use Twitter in your professional life?

Finding people /organisations with whom to collaborate. Being a person online makes people more likely to contact us for development advice

What’s your favorite Twitter app?

I love tweetie2 for iphone because it shows threaded conversations

Twitter or Facebook?

Oh Twitter every time. Are you Serious?

What feature should Twitter add?

Conversational tools. Threaded replies and DMs

Who do you wish had a Twitter feed but doesn’t?

Ruth Reed, first woman President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Go on Ruth!

What are some words or phrases you refuse to shorten for brevity?

There once was a man from Japan whose limericks never would scan. When asked why this was, He replied “It’s because I always try to fit as many syllables into the last line as ever possibly I can.”

Is there someone you want to follow you who doesn’t already? If so, who?

If you want to use networking to do something positive, then it’s you.

Have you ever unfollowed someone? Who and why?

Sometimes I follow people who look interesting but turn out to be autotweeting spam. I tend to follow people who @Subutcher me mostly

Why should we vote for you?

God knows but someone did. Ask them?

Terms you wish would start trending on Twitter right now?

#NREHelp so we can teach @NationalRailenq how to tweet more productively and engage with their customers

What’s the most interesting connection you’ve made through Twitter?

@HotelDesigns but he’s all mine, get off!

Hashtag you created that you wish everyone used?

#SMAEC #NREHelp #bigchequefriday #goodnewsfriday #sendmeanIKEAcatalogueplease

How do you make your tweets unique?

I’m me.

What inspires you to tweet?

When something needs to be made better and people can help.

Ever get called out for tweeting too much?

My husband’s Christmas List had ‘smash Su’s iphone with a big hammer’ at the top

140 characters of advice for a new user?

Search Twitter for topics of interest, follow, listen, join like a party. The people who follow you don’t follow those you follow

How long can you go without a tweet?

…. that was about 30 seconds.

Who do you admire most for his or her use of Twitter?

@nextmoon” has a wealth of experience and has used it to help young construction professionals make it through difficult times.

Why’d you start tweeting?

Wanted to network on the phone. Been networking online since my son was born 5 years ago and I want to spend more time with him

Has Twitter changed your life? If yes, how?

Oh Yes. Its connected me to brilliant people all round the world who teach me something new every day.

What do you wish people would do more of on Twitter?

Have conversations and make connections. ‘You should talk to x about that’. Don’t assume they know, they probably don’t

How will the world change in 2010?

For the better if we put our minds to it.

What are some big Twitter faux pas?

Anyone forgetting they are in public. Yes you are. You know who you are. And forgetting you’re talking to real people.
And finally,

What would your answers be?

You can find out more about the Shorty Awards here.