What it says about your social media use when the Fire Minister introduces himself to you

This is exactly what happened to me today. I was at an event hosted by the Reform think tank where Brandon Lewis, the Policing and Fire Minister, was setting out the next steps for fire reform.

It’s part of my world to go to these things. I go to talk to people; the networking is great. I have, over the years, built up an extensive network of people in the fire world. It’s a small world and despite the tendency for fire chiefs to retire on a pretty regular basis, I nurture my network so that it develops and grows.

There was a lot of anticipation in the reception before the speech. With the Policing and Crime Bill having received Royal Asset only a few days ago, it was perfect timing for some clarity about some of the key planks of this legislation. I was after detail about the new inspection regime and to learn some more about the standards body that was doing the rounds.

Lucky me. I get a full text (large print, thankfully) of the speech as I walk in, a perk of writing for the fire press. I curb my urge to tweet throughout, wanting to follow the speech and see how much the Minister ad-libs. He does. A lot. But it works, it adds in a confident and warm edge to what he has to say, even when it’s not a message we want to hear.

And after an hour we are dismissed. I wander over to find Andrew Lynch, the editor of FIRE to discuss tactics and wait patiently while he interviews the Minister in the lobby. Coat already on, it’s clearly not going to be a long wait and Andrew and I are soon chatting about the speech.

A few minutes later I hear my name and yes, Brandon Lewis is introducing himself to me because he and I follow each other on Twitter. He recognises me from my Twitter photo and wants to say hi. I’ve clearly over done it on my @brandonlewis tweets and he’s twigged who I am. Not hard, I suppose; there aren’t too many women writing about fire.  

I suppose I never really thought he read all the tweets in his feed. I just thought his office did that for him. Well now I know he does read them and I’m impressed.  

It’s a reality check about the impact of Twitter. You can access people in a way you never could previously. Undiluted and authentic, it’s powerful and revealing. For me, it’s a key part of my work and my world.

Welcome to the new normal, where in the world of Twitter everyone knows your name.