So here's the problem I'm running into with the twitter project:
Some things, are easy, like #Birmingham, #BHAM for Birmingham.
Other things are harder. Plus, if I understand correctly, certain hashtags can be searched, but you won't necessarily get a tweet about that hashtag unless you are looking for it.
I'm thinking a better direction to go, is to take the same groups we want to target and then contact those businesses or groups directly that serve our targeted areas and ask them to send a tweet to their followers. We can even have a boilerplate tweet that we just customize for each situation. Examples:
For AAA "TN travelers, help find missing mom - have you seen this Jeep? (link to flyer)."
For a motorcycle club: "Bikers, we've been asked to help bring home this missing mom...Keep an eye out for this Jeep (link)
I think if we give them something to say vs. asking them to write something themselves, they're more likely to do it.
People search hashtags all the time. If you search a hashtag, you'll get all tweets containing that hashtag.
If you Follow a person/company/organization, you'll get all tweets that person/company/organization sends out on your Timeline (your Twitter homepage).
If I send out a tweet with the #bikers hashtag in it, everyone who searches for #bikers will get the tweet.
Also, while I think of it, people search on just keywords, for example, bikers. People who search bikers will get all tweets containing the word bikers, but they won't necessarily get tweets with the hashtag #bikers in the tweets that come up first in Top tweets. Most people will incorporate both to try to reach a wider audience because of anomalies like this in search results.
If a person/company/organization sends out a tweet, everyone Following them (all of their Followers) will get that tweet on their Timeline.
So... the ideal would be if, e.g., a biker club sent out a tweet containing both the word bikers and the hashtag #bikers. Then that tweet would go to anyone who may be Following them, everyone who searches for bikers, and everyone who searches for #bikers.
I think it's a great idea to ask companies and organizations to tweet out to their Followers, particularly those with a large number of Followers.
I think hashtags and keywords have the benefit of potentially reaching more people, if you use popular hashtags and keywords.
So... it's all good. The more different ways you tweet out to people, the more people will potentially be reached.
One unexpected benefit I found from my tweets with the word Jeep and the hashtag #Jeep is that Jeep salespeople and companies are picking up my tweet and re-tweeting it. I was thrilled!
And... you've made me realize that I have that list of all reporters and news stations who've tweeted about Gail. They'd be great people/organizations to ask to send out a Jeep finding tweet, since they've already shown an interest in Gail's story.
