Yesterday the American Academy of Pediatrics hosted a novel twitter event around measles information.  Packaged as a ‘Twitter storm’ and tagged as #MeaslesTruth, it was a 10 minute measles power session designed to push a little vaccine truth into the infosphere.

Here’s why the #MeaslesTruth Twitter storm worked:

1. It was a constrained affair.  As a short-form flash mob, it was clean, contained and to the point.  A twitter storm of this type appeals to our brief attention spans.
2. There was no conversation.  This wasn’t a Q&A.  There were no silly platitudes.  It was anything but a cocktail party.  There was, however, heavy hitting, in-your-face volume.  It was a blitzkrieg.  A pro-vaccine bumrush.
3. There were no individuals.  Our engagement was collective and centered around a simple idea. Everyone at #MeaslesTruth was present for group effect and it wasn’t about any one tweet.  No one participant had the opportunity to bask in the glow of their carefully chosen words.  It was social media intentionally designed without the me.

Congrats to my committed colleagues Rhea Boyd and Wendy Swanson for innovating a novel way to mass move ideas and information in a social space.  Hats off to all who pitched in.  And thanks to the American Academy of Pediatrics for helping us make Twitter stop and think for just a brief time.

You can check out the Symplur stats here | Image via Flickr