It's not the technology, it's the dialog.

One of my biggest fears is, and always has been, opening my mouth and letting people know exactly how much I don't know. So, most of the time, I'm a listener. Today's WSJ article, "Playing Catch-Up, the GOP Is All Atwitter About the Internet," made me chuckle and cringe. In it, Mike Duncan, chairman of the RNC, acted on my own worst fear.

First, (and this is not partisan AT ALL, because Democrats do this all the time) someone needs to tell Mr. Duncan that Twitter is not a verb (as in: "I do not Twitter"). The correct phrase is: "I do not Tweet" or "I don't use Twitter." Someone also should tell him that a building does not offer the capability to Tweet (as in: "But we have the capability here in the building."). A wireless device with an Internet connection is the only thing needed, inside or outside of a building. And when grilled by a like-minded talk-show host about a perceived "tech-gap", Mr. Duncan should not cite usage of an Amazon Kindle as tech prowess. Yikes.

Second, and more important: it's not about the technology, it's about the relationship. It's not about the number of followers, or "friends," it's about meaningful dialog. Call me old-fashioned, but I never could have a meaningful dialog with anyone, online or offline, if I didn't know that person, or at least believe that we had a very specific common interest.

But the bigger issue is that Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn won't do anything for anyone if they don't already know what they want to say and to whom they want to say it. It's all about finding your audience, whoever and where ever they may be, and communicating with them (not at them) in the medium that they (the audience) prefer.

Candidate Obama used social networks to his advantage, but it already was his forte: he was a community organizer. Also, his audience was eager to hear from him in an online medium. Will GOP voters be eager to communicate with their leaders on Twitter? If not, then they're all atwitter about nothing.