At noon today, I had an opportunity to conduct a Twitter training class for physicians from one of our clinical departments at Mayo Clinic.
I wanted to show them the reach and speed of Twitter, and how it can spread messages widely and quickly. So, at 12:28, I put out this tweet to my Twitter followers:
Within seconds, the responses started coming in:
Update: I went back to Tweetdeck to capture the actual times of the tweets. I think it makes the speed of the spread even more interesting. It also shows the half-life of a tweet.
- PBMikeDougherty from Rochester – 12:28
- rsm2800 from Baltimore, MD – 12:29
- ScrippsHealth from San Diego, CA – 12:29
- KTTCTV from Rochester – 12:29
- danellew from Calgary, AB – 12:29
- annewinfrey from Rochester – 12:30
- CoxHealth from Springfield, MO – 12:30
- CoreyRawdon from Dallas, TX – 12:31
- bryciejones from Portland, OR – 12:31
- BrownMedicine from Providence, RI – 12:31
- amiesandoval from Virginia Beach, VA – 12:31
- IQSolutions from Rockville, MD – 12:32
- nickdawson from Richmond, VA – 12:32
- renee_berry from Silicon Valley, CA – 12:32
- KentBottles from Philadelphia, PA – 12:32
- MEHarty from Rochester – 12:32
- OtisBRickman from Nashville, TN – 12:33
- TheDavisTeam from Philadelphia – 12:34
- SusannahFox from Washington, DC – 12:35
- SNHMC from Nashua, NH – 12:36
- shalamajackson from South Carolina – 12:36
- WellspringHeart from Oregon – 12:37
- danielg280 from Rochester – 12:37
- WhereIsKiger from Rochester – 12:37
- mamaier262 from Brookfield, WI – 12:40
- healthpolicygrp (apparently they’re from everywhere) – – 12:40
- fuelrochestermn from Rochester
- HSchoegler from Fort Wayne, IN – 12:42
- DesertAIDS from Palm Springs, CA – 12:42
- Giberti from Rochester – 12:43
- NAPH1981 from Washington, DC – 12:43
- hbrink1 from Atlanta, GA – 12:45
- AZCancerCenter from Tucson, AZ – 12:45
- diptoe from Indiana – 12:47
- SusanCarr from Concord, MA – 12:47
- ctsinclair from Kansas City, MO – 12:48
- carrie_at_umass from Central Massachusetts – 12:50
- MeredithGould from Baltimore, MD – 12:52
- PracticalWisdom from North Carolina –
- Terryhoffmann from Jacksonville, FL – 12:53
- pamressler from Concord, MA – 12:54
- RickTC from La Crosse, WI – 12:55
- FMDGirl from Albert Lea, MN – 12:55
- ChelseaFanJJ from Eau Claire, WI – 12:55
- SMHCS from Sarasota, FL – 12:57
- ohsuneuro from Portland, OR – 12:58
- joshmccolough from Elgin, IL – 13:02
- kamseattle from Seattle, WA – 13:09
- RAWarrior from close to the Shuttle launchpad – 13:13
- amednews from Chicago, IL – 13:17
- kathywinter from Tampa, FL – 13:27
The tweets above all arrived in the first hour. Since then, a few more trickled in…
- debbsmn from Rochester – 14:30
- ckpudooley from Oakland, CA – 14:32
- tom_gall from Mantorville, MN – 15:46
- kywh from Phoenix, AZ – 16:32
- neojima from Lakeville, MN – 16:59
- mpwhaley from Cary, NC – 19:10
Altogether, that’s 57 replies or retweets from 21 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.
The total potential reach of the message- to my followers plus the followers of those who tweeted – was 66,986. Of course not everyone among those followers saw the message. If they didn’t happen to be watching Twitter at the time, they missed it.
Still, I think that’s pretty amazing for a lunchtime experiment.
Thanks to everyone who participated by replying or retweeting!