We've been using Twitter here at GreensMPs for quite a while now, and thought it was high time we screamed it's virtues from the rooftops.
For the unitiatied, Twitter is a microblogging platform that enables quick, short messages to flow between hundreds, thousands and even millions of people worldwide. With a limit of 160 characters or less for each tweet, messages can be sent from the web, your phone, your Blackberry, your iPhone, etc.
A variety of other things are possible besides simple text in a tweet. Links to relevant websites, specialised Twitter pictures services and other such multimedia are widespread, but it is the conversations that happen, out in the open for all to take part in, that make the medium so different from other net-based options.
Check out this video from Common Craft, which explains the underlying principles of how Twitter works.
For a localised example, take one of the issues racing through the Australian (and worldwide) Twitterverse lately - the planned Australian Internet Filter. From the day Greens Senator Scott Ludlam grilled Communications Minister Conroy about details of the planned filter, the Twitterverse has been watching. It's a topic that is right at home with technologically savvy, connected people. Want to join in the conversation? Place the hashtag #nocleanfeed on any post, and it will be collated alongside others with the same hashtag. This information can be viewed on the web, or through Twitter desktop programs such as Thwirl.
The information flows freely, without control - this is true citizen journalism - digital freedom.
Consider this from Stephen Fry, who has become somewhat of the posterboy for true Twitter advocates:
"If people want to announce their new this or their new that, they're going "I'm not going to do an interview, I'm not going to sit in the Dorchester for seven days having one interviewer after another come to me, I'm just going to Tweet it, and point them to my website and forget the press". And the press are already struggling enough - God knows they've already lost their grip on news to some extent. If they lose their grip on comment and gossip and being a free PR machine as well, they're really in trouble. So naturally they're simultaneously obsessed because they use it (as it fills up their column inches) but they're also very against it. So you'll get an increasing number of commentators going "Aren't you just fed up with Twitter? Oh, if Stephen Fry tells me what he's having for breakfast one more time, I think I'll vomit." They really will have a big go at it because it attacks them, it cuts them out."
Surprisingly, unlike most other Web 2.0 developments, Twitter has been warmly embraced by the tradional Australian media world. Most outlets in Australia do publish a Twitter feed, and more and more are interacting directly with their audience. It's this direct contact that makes the medium so powerful.
Consider this exchange from today between our Senators at GreensMPs and Sky News:
SkyFirstEdition @GreensMPs What are your thoughts on the clean-up efforts on Moreton Island and the southern area of the Sunshine Coast ?
Our response:
GreensMPs @SkyFirstEdition "The PM's ultimately got the responsibility for bringing much faster & much more broad scale aid onto those beaches." - Bob
Sky News passes that message on:
SkyFirstEdition RT @GreensMPS: ''The PM's ultimately got the responsibility for bringing much faster & much more broad scale aid onto those beaches.' - Bob'
And then asks for rebuttal from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh:
SkyFirstEdition @anna4queensland The Greens say a much faster and broad scale response re: oil spill could be coordinated from Canberra. What do you say?
(at time of writing this post, Anna Bligh had not responded)
Here, the news (and interview) is instantaneous. No waiting to get all parties on board, no preparation of a studio and other technicalities. No relying on the age-old 'media cycle', where 5pm is too late and yesterday's news is already over.
True, a lot of news outlets are mere Twitterbots - that is, the only information that is relayed on to Twitter is automated, and sometimes only headlines that hyperlink back to their website. But this can sometimes be a good thing - a simple, quick news update, such as that sent out on the hour by @ABCNews. At @GreensMPs, we opt for a combination of both automated links and personalised tweets. For politics, campaigning, interacting and engaging, Twitter offers a new way of communicated with people - one that we're excited to be a part of.
Perhaps a little too late to help his bid for the Presidency, even John McCain has seen the light in the power of direct social media - he's scheduled to have an interview broadcast live on Twitter with ABC News correspondent George Stephanopoulos.
There is also the counter argument that increased connectivity and technology will lead to breakdowns of privacy, confidentiality and legal ramifications. Take the recent case of a juror who jeopardised a case by tweeting directly from the courtroom - therefore breaking the rules of outside communication. Or the highly publicised Pirate Bay copyright case, where the defendents were able to re-start their crashed web server (the one they were on trial for, for providing copyrighted material for download) from inside the courtroom.
For now, the opportunity to communicate directly with people, answer their questions and truly interact with engaged, educated, involved people is something that the GreensMPs cherish. We'll leap to the opportunity to debate with @TurnbullMalcolm, @KevinRuddPM, @Anna4Queensland and @StephenFry. Especially Stephen Fry.
