Social Media Roundup: Tweet to Your Heart’s Content (With Context)

Don’t just be mindful of what you tweet—be careful of how you tweet. Without context, you could be misinforming your members. Plus, quit poking around the internet and get back to work, in today’s Social Media Roundup.

Don’t Be the Worst Trying to Be First

BREAKING: Federal judge says he will issue ruling that will strike down Ohio’s ban on gay marriage.

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 4, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

The Associated Press published the tweet above earlier today, sparking more than a thousand retweets and hundreds of favorites.

But as BuzzFeed‘s Chris Geidner points out  (opens in a new tab), AP’s tweet lacked a key detail: The judge was striking down a marriage recognition ban, not ruling on gay marriage as a whole. But plenty of individuals and other outlets  (opens in a new tab) still spread the news. The AP added context in a later tweet  (opens in a new tab), but how many of those who saw the first tweet ever got the full story?

As more associations and nonprofits ramp up their own news-gathering efforts and the internet enables associations to inform audiences directly, it’s important to remember an old journalistic truism: It’s better to be (entirely) right than first. (ht @AP  (opens in a new tab))

Quit Interstitial Procrastination

The seemingly harmless habit killing your productivity. (by @lvanderkam  (opens in a new tab) @FastCompany  (opens in a new tab)) http://t.co/XDQc7nwnSL  (opens in a new tab)

— Deirdre Reid, CAE (@DeirdreReid) April 4, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

Are you reading this at the office? Did you stumble upon it while aimlessly returning to your workflow after finishing a task? If so, contributor Laura Vanderkam at Fast Company  (opens in a new tab) has sage advice to keep you on target in a work environment riddled with possible distractions.

She dubs the period between one task and another, which is often filled with instant messages and wanton web browsing, the “transition ritual.”

As Vanderkam notes, “Formulating a witty comment on a favorite blog is more exciting than double-checking the numbers on a spreadsheet pertaining to a project you’re pretty sure will be canceled anyway.”

So you may want to check out her advice and keep it in mind the next time you return to your desk and think, “What next?” But of course, keep checking Associations Now—that habit is itself a self-improvement tip. (ht @deirdrereid  (opens in a new tab))

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