I used to really dislike Twitter — one more social media, and such short messages! We don’t need more information overload in our world, bothering us everywhere we go!

Then I reframed Twitter in my mind. I realized that those tweets (140 characters maximum) are like haiku! Their brevity encourages us to capture the core essence, the deep meaning, in a new and creative way! In that sense, Tweets are perfect for Cultural Detectives or anyone who bridges cultures, whether within the family, neighborhood, or internationally. Now I quite enjoy the medium.

Recently I learned that you can now stream video via Twitter in much the same way as you share photos via Instagram.

You download a free app called Vine, then use your iPhone, iPod or iPad to record and Tweet 6-second videos. You can also easily post the photos to Facebook. Want to see some samples? Looping videos, short and sweet: multimedia haiku.

So I thought this could be an enjoyable and useful activity for Cultural Detectives: sharing short videos with each other about crossing cultures, from wherever we happen to be based or traveling. Here is the proposal:

I have a fun and exciting challenge for you! Please, capture a short video of your experience crossing cultures: what does bridging cultures effectively, what does cross-cultural competence mean to you?

Then, Tweet it to us at @CulturalDetect using hashtag #XingCultures

And/or, post your video to our Facebook page

I’m sure this could be a whole lot of fun, and provide interesting material that many of you could use. We have followers all over the world, and if you participate and pass this on to your friends and followers, the reach will be even wider.

Looking forward to your insight and creativity!!!!