Tweeting with (not like) Tony Burke
Something new and exciting has started happening in Australian Agriculture over the past few weeks. For the first time, Australians interested in all things farm and agriculture related are getting together on Twitter to discuss their trade.
It’s been called ‘agchatoz’ and happens every Tuesday night from 8pm EST. This twitter chat was started by a small group of us Aussies who decided that we could copy the tweeting success of the American based ‘Agchat Foundation‘. The format of the chat is that there will be a moderator who poses questions around a particular theme to all who are following. These questions are used as conversation starters and allow different viewpoints to be heard and issues raised. ‘AgchatOz’ has been growing in popularity every week since its debut, with tonight’s chat being the best yet.
‘AgchatOz’ was particularly topical this evening because it featured an appearance by Tony Burke, who is our Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as well as Minister for Sustainable Population. He was an active participant in the conversation and also responded to many questions, including my own. Just to really emphasise this let me restate: I was able to ask questions and receive instant responses from a member of federal cabinet just 4 days before a federal election*. Read that last sentence again and think about how social media is changing our world. The Internet has such potential to improve and revolutionise the democratic process. It makes the sharing of information so easy that one can instantly ask questions, share ideas and solicit feedback.
Tweeting with Tony Burke
Our national broadcaster has also been getting in on the act, with a couple of twitter chats being hosted at other times by ABC Rural. I’ve found all of these conversations great. They offer opinions and dialogue that would otherwise never occur. Conversations that aim to educate and share can only be a positive thing. So please, if you are all interested in farming, have any questions at all about agriculture, or just want to join in and learn via observation, then hop over to twitter and search for, or use the hash tag #agchatoz or even simply #agchat.
*Oh yeah, and I didn’t have to get off my couch to do it.
Themocracy
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Al Rayner, Jonathan Dyer, Tara Litzenberger, Mary Goode, AgChatOZ and others. AgChatOZ said: Thanks! What an awesome blog…RT @dyerjonathan: New Blog Post: Tweeting with (not like) Tony Burke http://bit.ly/cqJ0ya #agchatoz [...]
Great write up of last nights procedings on AgChatOZ twitter chat.
This is great. I’m so glad I read this. It’s great to see that folks worldwide see the value to AgChat, and it’s even better than your national-level politicians are listening. If only we could get our American leadership to hear the farmer’s voice…
Thanks for sharing, it was a great way to start my day! (What with it being 5:39 a.m. here and such.)
I’m glad you enjoyed it Kelly. Thanks for stopping by!
The thing I love about the Internet (and twitter!) is that it can be such a powerful leveller. I completely agree with you about the value of ‘ag chat’. For too long farmers have been negative about their occupation & it’s past time that we changed that!
Last night was the first I had heard of this great innovation (I am a teacher not a farmer, although my husbands family are very involved in agriculture at many levels). I only picked up on it because I follow Tony Burke on twitter. It was an excellent idea, well instituted and very well run. Much more successful format than the recent twitter debate involving Kristina Keneally and (I think) Barry O’Farrell. Kudos to those involved, including Tony Burke who uses social media better than most politicians.