Random follow #264 - @AnitaLHarvey

Meeting one great person usually always leads to meeting other great people.  Because great people attract other great people unto themselves.  The first great person I met this year was @vivster81 and from her the twitter connection was made through to the just as great @AnitaLHarvey.

This very lovely young lady is another lass who works for Amnesty International.  She looks after their media presence and does quite a bit of work in social media and communications.  So in other words - she gets to tell the world about the great work Amnesty do for people at both home and abroad.

Whats neat is if you have a look through her timeline you will quickly find that she has a brilliant sense of humour and can turn around what could be taken by others as an insult or something negative and in her own way she spins it into something very, very funny.  Such as -

"OHMYGOD, are you STILL going on about those war crimes?! Srs #Amnesty, you have like no life, do you even have a boyfriend? #DoubtIt! #Burn!"

As a stand alone tweet it comes across as a bit rough.  But when read as a RT by Anita it takes on a whole different bent.  But what else does she do and tweet about?

"People around the globe are taking a stand to #FreeTheArctic30. Show your support! Head to Queens Wharf before 9pm and join @GreenpeaceNZ"  <-- supporting the protection of the environment

":) if only.. @ndbrennan we always wish we could fill the news with #humanrights ! Here's to hoping others run it too! @AmnestyNZ"  <-- passionate about the burning issues

Anita is by no means a prolific tweeter.  She tweets when she wants and has something good to say.  There are very few wasted words on this account.  The tweets are of value and often link through to high powered stories and other goings on in current affairs.

I like Anita from a view that she is passionate and committed to a cause that is bigger than herself.  She channels and directs that passion into her tweets and her work and the results speak for themselves.

Peace.

Random follow #258 - @shacklemore

Whats in a name?  Really?  In the name Shackleford Hurtmore there is more than one story going on.  In fact there are a few.  I don't what they are but they're there.   @shacklemore proudly announces two interesting facts about himself - 1. he's a Brit and 2. he lives in Auckland.

But its not what a person says about themselves in their bio thats important.  The bio is like a random introduction at a party when someone says - "Hey! Have you met ........?  He/she is into ......" and then they walk away.  There isn't a lot of depth there but you have a starting point from which to begin a conversation.

This is one account where there is absolutely no doubt about where a person stands on the issues/  Is a spade a shovel?  No!  Its a spade!  Thats a lot of how these tweets read.  Not negatively but direct.  Definitely direct.  Of that there is no doubt.  But don't be put off cos he a definite sense of humour that lightens the load.  Here take a look at what I mean -

"Instead of the "sale" shenanigans every weekend, why don't Briscoes just admit they double all their prices on weekdays?"  <-- genuine humour.  None of that beat around the bush stuff.

"If you ever retweet ken ring you are dead to me." <-- this is a NO BS zone!

"How come there was never an episode of Star Trek:TNG where they just parked in an obscure orbit and chucked a sickie to play GTA2360?"  <-- he definitely has some super style too.

"John Key at the UN: "I've been internationalising a really complicated situation in my head"" <-- he is able to provide a funny spin on politics too.

He RT's some really good stuff too.  All the stars are in his RT list - Cate Owen, Guy Williams and Bill Bennett.  In just a few words I describe the good gentleman as follows - funny, serious, straight up, brilliant, engaging, knowledgeable, not afraid to speak his mind.

What I like about @shacklemore is the mix of the serious with the hilarious.  Too much of one or the other can make a tweeter either too serious or not believeable.  Put the two together and you have a really great view of the world.  

"To follow or not to follow? That is the question."