Today I posted a simple tweet stating the fact that I just learned of a co-worker coming down with the H1N1 Flu virus.

Immediately, a follower of mine on Twitter (and whom I follow), Detroit Medical Center, responded with a message that was helpful, informative, quick and simply spot-on. They responded with letting me know that I may want to check out their H1N1 Flu resource page on their website.

Before today, I followed them on Twitter because they're a hospital that's on Twitter and I try and follow a lot of hospitals on Twitter to see what they're all doing. I would say I follow somewhere around 40 or 50 hospitals. No other hospital sent any message like this (and yes, most of them follow me back).

But it's not just the fact that they're the only hospital that did this. In fact, I certainly wasn't looking for a hospital to do this, I was really just passing along that this virus seems to be everywhere. It's more of what that gesture symbolizes in their mentality of handling Twitter.

• They aren't just pushing out marketing materials.
• They ARE talking to people
• They ARE seeking conversations out (my example)

This is probably part of the reason they're ranked 15th on Ed's Top 20 Hospitals on Twitter. With over 2,000 followers, they're doing it right, and this is a major reason.

Of course too, at the end of the day, due to their great response, I now consider them to be a knowledge expert, a valued resource for medical information. Because they exposed me to what they offer, I was made more aware of their brand, they engaged me and I'm now a fan of theirs on Facebook too.