A Childhood Cancer Survivor Blogging about the World of Childhood Cancer

Posts tagged ‘Twitter’

Even if our Wallets are Empty

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

I haven’t written much about Twitter since the Twitter Police nearly nabbed me almost a year ago. I was busily tweeting childhood cancer “please help us” tweets when @1ballerina (me!) received a TweetWarning from someone who believed I was Spamming; he threatened to “report me.”

Since then, I have been behaving myself on Twitter, even though I never did find a Twitter Manual to describe to me in detail what is okay and what is not okay. I have met some incredible people through Twitter, and I just never know who or what will be the next surprise. (Happily, I don’t receive Twitter Police threats anymore!)

One wonderful surprise this week, was meeting @AFreeBirdOrg  They describe on their website what they do to help children with cancer—

“Our mission is to empower each bird to fly free.”

A Free Bird aims to provide the opportunity for children diagnosed with cancer to continue to explore their artistic passion, and to give them the strength and power to fight their disease.”

I am grateful for people/organizations that recognize this kind of need and then act upon it! I hope that by sharing my story on http://www.AFreeBird.info that people will understand how crucial it is for children fighting cancer to be able to continue their artistic passions because it truly helps bring healing.

http://afreebirdorganization.tumblr.com/post/8888955643/melindamarchiano

Speaking of Twitter and ways you can help fight childhood cancer by giving just a speck of your time, please tweet this to help raise money for Isaiah Alonso Foundation:

 @The_IAF and @SocialVest for #kickasscause NOW! We can win $ for #childhoodcancer. Please RT!

(Just copy the whole thing, paste it in your What’s Happening Window, and tweet!)

One more Click-of-A-Button way for you to be an advocate for childhood cancer this very day is to vote here for Journey for a Cure:

 http://www.vivint.com/givesbackproject/charity/1262?state=1842d89f75e0db34bd61e511d9b7efd0&code=AQAa8EkA-d9fBg-oXgy86KiGgOcmSU0-ODhjEdU-tjhoHikbMHzT8KoEVqdGMVLzUb9hBw8px2hT_Gr_M5EOW0sITXrEwoxzbvt9kl86yuswNDt501xXuI987DLaF69l2gux5lIrWCCyVLWDL9Z18MhKJNIr2dCgppd_FfGkbqvXEQrm4O34bcGoBScIMEKhG0S_8zZxG59dO2MDTvfDvady

Finally, I want to thank Mr. Tom Nunn for his great idea of asking everyone to pass on a childhood cancer story…

There are so many ways we can be childhood cancer advocates, even if our wallets are empty.

I loved this special doorway for kids at Dell Children's Hospital!

Twitter Manual to Avoid the Twitter Police

I’ve decided I need a Twitter Manual. I thought that the whole point of Twitter was to send tweets; I had no idea that there are “Rules” for Twitter. My problem is, I don’t know where those Twitter Rules are written. There needs to be a Twitter Manual.

I know someone who had her account shut down– no, actually two people who have had their accounts shut down– because they were tweeting and retweeting too much (spreading awareness of childhood cancer.) When they tried to tweet, all they saw on the screen was the big blue Fail Whale. Then, to top it off, they had to undergo the sticky mess of “explaining themselves” to the Twitter Police before they could get their accounts active again. Seems like the First Amendment should cover this whole Twitter dilemma, and we should just let the tweets fly without limit to content or numbers. I don’t get it! Doesn’t Twitter want us to tweet?????????????

I will leave this terribly confusing subject to tell you about a highly disturbing subject (nice change, huh?) Can you believe the story in this article about a teen being bullied for being a cancer survivor??????????????

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Bedford+teen+bullied+for+her+cancer&articleId=95b97557-7c3d-4ad1-abac-bff7f423b254

When I see this, it makes my blood temperature rise. We need awareness. If those teens knew what Michelle and other cancer patients face, and what they conquer, they wouldn’t be so mean. In fact, I believe if teens really knew exactly what their peers with cancer go through, we would have a nation of  childhood cancer advocates in the making.

Yep… that is what I believe.

I Got in Trouble on Twitter

I have had a Twitter account for over a year, but I have just begun regular tweeting in the last couple of months so that I can help spread the word about childhood cancer and also to receive regular updates from various cancer information sources. One of the strategies that the founder of the Oprah Please Do A Show on Childhood Cancer uses to grow the page is tweeting. She tweets to different celebrities– people who have huge Twitter followings– and asks them to retweet about “Liking” the page. Her Twitter name is @PiedPiperinKC, and when she gets someone to retweet, all of the rest of us “Followers” retweet the tweet. Got all that????

Okay, so here comes little @1ballerina (me!) trying to help the cause. I retweet everything that comes along, but I start to think, “Hey, I could actually tweet some of my own if I just copy @PiedPiperinKC’s tweets and start sending them off to other people she hasn’t sent to. I’m feeling really good about sending off tweets to help raise awareness for childhood cancer– working to save lives– when poor little @1ballerina gets a swift CYBERSWAT! I received a return tweet from an obviously disturbed recipient. Warren Whitlock, who has an enormous Twitter following, told me not to send him “Spam” and then told me he would have to “report me.” I followed with a “Is this Spam?” tweet and he politely replied with the definition. I had no idea that I could get in trouble and have people “Report me” on Twitter! How many tweets can I send before I cross over the line to SPAM? If I change up the wording just a bit in each one, does that disqualify my word-shuffled tweets from being classified as SPAM?

What the heck happens to poor little @1ballerina if I do get “reported”??????????????

Who ARE  the Twitter Police?

I hope they don’t catch me… I am going to have to type my childhood cancer awareness tweets in the dark of night… and hope they don’t GET me.

May I remind all of you one more time why I am willing to risk the Twitter Police?

http://www.kmbc.com/r-video/25662362/detail.html

Sometimes we have to ruffle a few feathers on our way to saving children’s lives. I am very sorry Mr. Whitlock for ruffling yours… @1ballerina really didn’t mean to.

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

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