When we started Roger-Wilco, a lot of people questioned the format. For some, a blog was not the right format for dealing with the serious questions of air traffic management. I could see the point in as much as a lot of blogs are indeed little more than a place for certain individuals to air their grievances about all kinds of subjects, many of which are of little interest to the world at large. But who can deny that they too have the right to publicize what is on their minds?
We simply had to make a better blog…
It would be easy to claim that I was always open to things like Twitter or FaceBook, but I was not. Especially Twitter
appeared to me the epitome of uselessness right alongside the male breast. FaceBook was something I could almost like but when they introduced the new “features” enabling users, among other things, to become “computer experts” by answering four or five ridiculously simple questions, I felt like running away. Seeing some of my most respected colleagues becoming such experts left me puzzled but no less determined to avoid FaecBook whenever possible.
LinkedIn was a different proposition right from the start. There one’s professional qualifications, work experience and other “real” things rule and people have actually found work when they were discovered by recruiters of major companies. LinkedIn actually reversed the switch in my mind…
But back to our blog…
When we developed the strategy to popularize Roger-Wilco, our advisor, who is also the director of our multimedia operations insisted that we use the social media scene and this of course included Twitter and FaceBook and all the rest there is under the social media banner. This guy knows what he is talking about, so I swallowed and said yes…
What I found out next was just how many major airlines are also in Twitter. But international organizations like EUROCONTROL and the SESAR Joint Undertaking also seem to be embracing this new arena of information exchange.
Aviation Week reported recently that the airline world is currently split about the utility and benefits of maintaining a presence on Twitter or FaceBook. Some are sold on the idea (JetBlue has almost a million and half followers on Twitter) while others have serious doubts about the utility of it all.
Here again, LinkedIn stands out because it is a place where real talent can be found, where corporations can maintain contact with ex-employees and where they can search for new ones. I have yet to read about someone who disagrees with the usefulness of LinkedIn.
I guess with more and more major companies setting up a Twitter account, the general value of the tweets swimming about on the network will improve by default. This will enable even oldtimers like myself to find interesting stuff to follow.
Not to mention Roger-Wilco which is also on Twitter…
