Group items tagged

NSW Premiere Kristina Keneally is accused of lying on Twitter. She wasn't present at a vote and the Opposition whip suggests she didn't follow requried protocol to be excused. To defend herself she used Twitter. I wonder if this will become a standard means of defence for politicians as more are taking up Twitter, and can reach an audience instantly.

"Let us all renounce the harsh rhetoric about the POTUS [president of the U.S.]. Several, including myself, hv used inappropriate language. Let's remain civil! #tcot." See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/dCqW2m

Interesting post about SPAM and keeping it under control in twitter. Particularly pertinent is the point that as a site/community becomes larger the more SPAM there is - ie, the larger the population, the harder the governance.

Defending her tweets and taking aim at the fallout, Deveny, who was sacked as a columnist for The Age over her Logies comments, likened Twitter to "passing notes in class, but suddenly these notes are being projected into the sky and taken out of context. "Twitter is online graffiti, not a news source." Wrong.

"Some criticize me, others insult me. I don't care," he said. "It's a form of contact with the world." The president joined Twitter on April 27 in an attempt to counter adversaries who have actively used the site to make accusations of human rights violations, organize protests and - above all - ridicule Chavez. I found this interesting for many reasons - Chavez's use of Twitter as a communication mode but also to counter criticism of his government and person.

Twitter feeds that reported the results of the recent UK election could serve as a starting point on election coverage. I would not be surprised if preliminary reports eventually leak ahead of the polls closing. Do you think twitter will be regulated in elections? Maybe not all electoral officials are discrete... 

Twitter users have been issued subpoenas from Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett due to the critical comments they've made about the politician. It's interesting how much anonymous comments can make an impact on a public figure's reputation that it forces him to take legal action.  

Twitter receives a grand jury subpoena forcing the company to reveal a user's identity. Interesting how this can be done when the stakes are high, when there is a a political subtext under it. Could this set a precedent for defamation cases?

The White House will now archive its tweets. Wonder what role Twitter will play in the not-so-far-away 2012 US presidential campaign. If Obama runs for re-election... will he start the race ahead?

From Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez's blog. A short post that describes how the Cuban communist intelligentsia deals with Twitter. Interesting to see how some dissidents have contacts outside Cuba who are in charge of maintaining their twitter accounts. 

Resources for the study of activist politics, state propaganda, collaboration, dissent, and opinion management on Twitter.

Describes how twitter is being used for citizen participation and "democracy" in various countries from Moldova, Iran and now China. The author proposes that the best way to reduce censorship and promote "democracy" is not political pressure, but to "flood the Chinese market, and those of other countries that restrict freedom of expression, with cutting-edge technology". My opinion: Although Twitter seems to be good at allowing citizens to organise and to create consensus, it does not seem to translate well to actual policy outcome. 

Good article on the social and political uses of social media (sic.) in Indonesia. There have been attempts to filter/censor content, but so far they have been avoided. Uses of Twitter, Facebook by politicians is also described. 

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is really into his digital persona. Now he has a blog. Interesting how he has taken social media communications seriously. 

Twitter is being used as a tool for advice on how to escape risky places in thailand due to political tensions. 

Plurk, a micro-messaging service that competes with Twitter, discovered that it is being blocked in China.

Mexico will hold presidential elections in 2012. Eight years after it lost the presidential seat to the conservative party PAN, the PRI (which held the "perfect dictatorship" by staying 71 years in power), is gaining momentum and seems to be the clear front-runner. The party has conducted many efforts to engage young voters (those who grew up hearing about the absolutist years of the PRI) with its political agenda. In Mexico. the money that parties invest in campaigns is prone to debate and finger-pointing. How will efforts like this Twitter account be accounted for? Is social media an investment? 

The grammar cops are on Twitter, pedantry reaches a new (read: redundant and sad) extreme...

The tittle seems clear. The US Library of Congress has announced plans to digitally archive all the billions of messages sent on Twitter since its launch four years ago. A lot of reactions can be observed. If interested, two others links right here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/library-of-congress-acquires-entire-twitter-archive/ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/15/2873163.htm

Contrary to the Obama-McCain 2008 campaign, where Internet users with liberal tendencies where more prone to follow their candidates via Twitter and other social media, the recent UK campaign shown the aparent leadership of Conservatives in political digital communications. They have double the Twitter followers than Labour. Do you think the digital divide between Democracts and Republicans in the US will shorten in the 2012 presidential campaign?

Pew study shows the African-American population is more inclined in Mobile Internet and especially Twitter whose awareness has raised significantly