"Patience is Bitter, But Its Fruit is Tweet"

I’m almost ashamed to admit how long it took me to get serious about establishing a solid social media presence to build my “brand.” But the title of this screed, based on a quote by French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, nicely sums up my evolution. After much procrastination, internal struggle and just plain old-school cussed-ness, I think I’ve finally stopped viewing social media activity as yet one more chore on a seriously overloaded list. In fact, these days I’m starting to relish the interaction.

In fact, just today I got an email message lauding my 3 year “Twitter-versary.” Considering I had long forgotten WHY I first joined, it was a welcome reminder that I’m not a total novice. And Tweeting also allows me to keep up with breaking news, specialized health and development research, and evocative commentary that help sharpen my edge in the increasingly competitive comms consultancy realm.

But I have to confess I’m STILL a bit leery of the lightning speed at which some fellow cyberscribes reach out to respond, criticize or try to one-up something you’ve posted. As I move beyond just re-tweeting or copy-pasting information on various platforms, to try and inject some of my own flavor into posts, I’m increasingly amused-yet-unnerved by how quickly people chime in.

For example, October 15 is Global Handwashing Day, something I hadn’t noticed during my recent laser focus on food security issues. Because I know poor hygiene and lack of access to proper sanitation are leading causes of diarrheal disease and death, I wanted to acknowledge the global commemoration, And in this age of Ebola, though I haven’t quite had the heart to weigh in on a blow-by-blow basis, the gripping crisis has made me conclude that sub-Saharan Africa’s number one challenge is finding ways to cement wide spread behavior change programs into public health policy.

After all, with an Ebola death toll currently surpassing 4,000, people in the hardest hit zones are still stubbornly clinging to cultural burial practices that expose them to almost certain death. It may take decades to significantly shift the needle, but I believe African nations must make a dramatic effort starting NOW.

So I tweeted as much, fueled by an absolutely delightful video of a Handwashing Day Song called “Wash Your Hands, O!” by Nigerian pop artist Sunny Neji. Seriously, you should check it out. It’ll have you wriggling in your chair and tapping your toes in no time flat! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZtWp90dRE

Anyway, one of my still relatively scant number of Twitter Followers decided to comment, after I’d followed my personal opinion Tweet with a link to a newspaper story estimating that the Kenyan government loses the equivalent of $302 million USD each year in treating sanitation-related illness. I declared that figure shocking, but my follower instantly chided me. He wondered, if I had a problem with officials spending that much to treat illnesses, would I prefer they spend it to bury the dead?

Now, I had to think a few minutes and take a deep breath before climbing down off my soapbox. It would have been way too easy to perform a swift intellectual evisceration, given my slightly stressed aura of late. Aw, who am I kidding--it was tempting as hell!! Instead, I chose a gentler, evidence-based approach by suggesting that perhaps a better way to spend that much money would be by providing access to clean water, or improving sanitation facilities for millions of Kenyans living at or below the poverty line. In rural areas where open defecation is still rampant, spending even a sliver of that money on providing and maintaining sewer and toilet facilities would probably improve overall public health stats dramatically.

To my utter surprise, my dogged follower, who happens to be Kenyan, replied, “Approp (sic) sanitation is a matter of choice, not policy. Treating ill citizens is mandatory.”

Okay, at this point I lost it. So sue me. The Snark Monster climbed completely “out the box” and nailed it shut behind her. I rather bluntly responded by wondering if maybe he was expressing those sentiments during a vacation in Switzerland? With more than half of Kenyans struggling to survive on less than a dollar a day, did he really think that they CHOOSE to squat on the ground to relieve themselves, or drink and wash themselves in water that the rest of us wouldn’t even use to scrub out storm gutters?

Rather than continue down the path toward a righteous indignation-fueled aneurysm, I dropped that thread of conversation. And while I’m not yet ready to block Mr. “@ChoiceNotPolicy,” he’s definitely on notice. I’ve become increasingly less willing to allow nonsense onto my Twitter feed. But the interaction was a potent and very necessary reminder of the responsibilities, liabilities and potential rewards of creating a resonant social media presence. I must remember to speak from evidence, experience, personal conviction and a global consciousness. But I also have to not take myself, or all but a very few others, too seriously.

BTW, if you get a chance, follow me on Twitter @RJConsults! :-)