Thread by @jonworth

So it seems this thread about the green NGO sector in the Brussels EU bubble managed to annoy quite a lot of people...

https://twitter.com/jonworth/status/1191718456120528896

So I better try to explain things a bit more in a more detailed thread.

The basic issue is this: a Twitter account that is personal will result in greater engagement than an organisational account.

Don't get me wrong - accounts like @transenv @HealthandEnv @foeeurope @Green_Europe have their uses for information purposes - but who is the human behind each? If I ask an account like that a question, do I get an answer? If I do is it from the right person in the organisation?

That's why personal accounts on Twitter in EU politics matter

If I know the person working for an organisation - the outright specialist in their field - I would sooner discuss with that person on Twitter than with an organisational account

This also works for lobbying and public affairs purposes - if a NGO campaigner knows a MEP offline, you can replicate that connection online. And that works more strongly through personal accounts than organisational accounts

The issue as I see it is the balance in most of the green NGO sector is that the organisations - in terms of follower numbers and numbers of tweets - are comparatively strong, and the accounts of the people working for them are comparatively weak in terms of activity

There is the point raised by @slcuervo

https://twitter.com/slcuervo/status/1191980908372516864

as to whether a follower number matters or not here

In absolute terms, no

It's the quality of the followers that matters if you want to lobby or campaign in the EU bubble

But - conversely - there are at least a five figure number of people actively tweeting about EU politics in the Brussels bubble, so if your follower number is in the hundreds you are probably not reaching even a high enough percentage of a small audience

Or - as mentioned in the earlier thread - in other NGO sectors senior people like @mvanhulten @HeatherGrabbe @astroehlein or @mark_johnston seem to do pretty well reaching a larger part of the Brussels bubble on Twitter than in the green NGO sector

The earlier thread prompted people to send me loads of suggestions for Brussels based Green NGO people on Twitter - so here they all are:
@slcuervo
@Nico_Muzi
@CalvAmb
@LucyGilliam
@AndrewTMurphy
@GregGtarcher
@Cecile_Toubeau
@juliepolie
@FaigAbbasov
@PierreDornier

Cont.
@lucabonaccorsi
@tomearlAU
@samkennyis
@mat_lucien
@AdrianBebb
@RobbBla
@MuteSchim
@_antlaz_
@joswabe
@ArielBrunner
@HarrietBirdlife
@hannah_mowat
@j_flisowska
@taraconnollyGP
@JMSimonL
@tenBrinkPatrick

The basic point is this: a good level of engagement on Twitter is easier to achieve through a personal account than an organisational one. Just as good personal connections work best for lobbying and public affairs.

/ends