Poor Ed — it seems it’s been one of those weeks.
Has he been taking Twitter lessons from Diane Abbott?
Politicos were left bemused earlier when Diane Abbott, facing the media for the first time over her unwise race remarks, interrupted a live interview with Sky News to answer her mobile phone. Paul Waugh has revealed the phone call was from none other than Ed Miliband, with Labour sources claiming the Hackney MP was given “a severe dressing down”:
This must surely be the first time a leader’s “hairdryer treatment” phone call to a front bencher has been caught on camera.
After hundreds (more than a thousand according to Google News) of articles on Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi joining Twitter, it has emerged the account of the Chinese-born media executive was actually a spoof.
So why on earth did Twitter verify the account as authentic?
It was with some amusement in July that Scrapbook reported a pronouncement from the Information Commissioner that Freedom of Information requests can be submitted by Twitter. The edict means that every public authority using the service is now obligated to monitor their accounts for statutory requests under the 2000 Act.
Not seeming the most pragmatic interpretation of the law, we decided to road test this by submitting a request to the 10 Downing Street Twitter account:
It should come as no surprise that we did not receive a reply within the required 20 days. So we followed the rules and requested an internal review. This was also met with silence and the matter is now with the ICO in the form of a complaint.
Generating countless stories, we love FOI here at Scrapbook. But onerous requirements on public authorities (which add nothing to real information rights) will only bolster attempts to water-down legislation — as MPs attempted when they voted to exempt their expenses from scrutiny in 2007.
Apparent ignorance as to such practicalities is surprising, however, given the extensive thought the ICO has given to social media.
The Commission’s official policy document on how to use Twitter runs to a mere eighteen pages.
Virulently right-wing Fox News has reported the death of Barack Obama in a shooting in Iowa. Fortunately, however, the network appears to have been the victim of an Independence Day prank by hackers.
After messages announced that the @foxnewspolitics Twitter account was in control of a group identifying itself as the “Script Kiddies”, the station announced it had ”regained full access to our Twitter and email” shortly before 7am UK time. But in a subsequent series of messages the account was used to report the assassination of the president while at a campaign event and wishing Joe Biden “the best of luck” as the 45th president:
The death of the president seems something of an obsession for the Murdoch-owned network.
In May a Fox News affiliate in California reported the death of ”Obama Bin Laden”.
With tweets a few minutes ago, it seems the BNP leader has managed to surpass even his own base standards, writing that he hopes controversial cleric Raed Salah, speaking today in Parliament “blows himself up there”:
It should come as no suprise, however, that the BNP leader has form for such a low remark:
In 2009 he implied former army chiefs Sir Richard Dannat and Sir Mike Jackson could be hanged for attacking the BNP.
As calendars called time on 2010, A Very Public Sociologist published their list of “top tweeting bloggers” ordered by number of followers.
In the intervening period, Twitter has consolidated its position as a prime source of political information and a vital conduit of traffic for websites. Current affairs programmes had already begun to profile hashtags and the accounts of their presenters by the time the superinjunction scandal plastered Twitter on every newspaper front page. So as we approach the halfway mark of 2011, let’s look at what these events have done for political bloggers (comparisons made with AVPS statistics):
Ordered by growth, however, the fastest expanding followings are dominated by blogging TV journalists such as Robert Peston, Jon Snow and Michael Crick.
From the top 10, the only exceptions are two (excellent) clicktivism campaigns and Guido Fawkes, who is arguably the only truly “mainstream” independent blogger and, funnily enough, wrote a “case against Twitter” in March 2009.
A few weeks ago, Iain Dale concluded that “the mainstream media has eaten up the independent political blogosphere”. Are our well-remunerated friends now stealing a march on indie tweeters too?
As social media errupted on the news of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew took to Twitter to discuss the implications for peace in the Middle East:
Or perhaps not.
UPDATE: It seems news of today’s events has finally reached West Yorkshire.
