Should gypsies be allowed to jump NHS queues?

Ask Daily Mail readers whether gypsies should be allowed to jump NHS queues and you'd think the answer would be a foregone conclusion.  But that was before Twitter.

On Friday I witnessed for myself just how powerful Twitter is becoming, and more important, how it has the power to harness and mobilise public opinion to create action.

There's a lot of talk right now about how this is happening in Iran - opposition supporters using Twitter to bypass the ban on media reporting from the country and get pictures and information to the outside world.  

In fact, as I write, I'm looking at Twitscoop, a website that tracks in real time the current hot topics on Twitter, and I can see that people are appealing for blood donors to address a shortage in hospitals.  More chilling, I can see trending topics 'rumors', 'clashes' and 'tanks', all clicking through to reports of clashes between police and protesters - being called terrorists by the Iranian government - in Tehran. 

Back to my original story.  On Friday, I was looking at Tweetdeck  - an application that sites on your desktop and allows you to see and post Twitter and Facebook updates - and I saw the word 'Skew' as one of the big trending topics.

Wondering what people would be writing about that included the word 'Skew', I clicked through to Twitscoop where I saw that it was all about the Daily Mail poll on gypsies.  Some of the comments were just about how low The Daily Mail had stooped, but many were taking it further, posting a link to the poll and encouraging people to register a Yes vote to skew the poll.   Because Twitter users can 're-tweet', this particular message was being duplicated and resent around the community, gaining momentum all the time.

So I clicked through to the poll, registered my Yes vote, and looked at the results.  How many Daily Mail readers think that gypsies should be able to jump NHS queues?  As of yesterday 

afternoon, 93% of them do, apparently.  I can't see the result today because funnily enough the poll has been removed.

Twitter helped to get Barack Obama elected; it's helping to highlight injustices in oppressed countries; it's helping the mass of the people and interest groups to spread their messages faster than ever.  Yes, you can probably still find out what Britney's eating for breakfast, but if you dismiss Twitter as just a frivolous fad you do so at your peril.

Twitter for beginners

Twitter is one of those disruptive and decisive technologies. Some people use it all the time; some (like me) dabble in it, and there are lots who just don't see the point.

Twitter also has that fad factor, which can annoy people. You can't read a paper, or browse the internet, without reading about how Demi Moore is supporting someone on Britain's got Talent, or how 20,000 people knew when Stephen Fry was stuck in a lift because he was posting tweets about it.

I always think with these new technologies (if, indeed, a technology is the right way to describe Twitter - social media may be more accurate) the way to approach them is to look for the value they can give you personally. If you can find value, use them; if you don't, then don't use them. But it's worth taking a little time to explore and understand before you say no.

Facebook has value to me because it lets me keep in touch with friends and what they're up to. Of course I can call them and email them and - gasp - even meet them in person. But that's just not possible with everyone, or as often as I'd like, so Facebook fills that void.

LinkedIn fulfils a different need. It's my professional profile, and I have a different persona there. For those of us who have been in the job market LinkedIn is invaluable - these days it's a primary interface with recruiters. Over the last few months I've been contacted directly by Amazon, BestBuy and Waterstones, as well as by quite a few headhunters, because they saw my profile in LinkedIn.

With Twitter, I admit I haven't yet found the killer value, although I'm getting closer. According to Twanalysis I'm still a newbie, so I'm still learning.  What I've learned is that the basic "I'm on the train" or "I'm watching The Wire" or "I'm stuck in a lift" messages aren't the future of Twitter.  The future is in collaboration of the dissemination of information, in a way that's relevant and accessible.  

One example is citizen journalism.  During the demonstrations at the recent G20 summit, some of the most up-to-date news was coming from people on the streets who were posting real-time updates from across London.  It would be physically impossible for news organisations to cover so many locations on the ground.

At a more personal level, Derek Dunlop told me that he looks for my tweets on Rangers scores when he's travelling as it's the best way for him to keep up with games.

Or for a more imaginative use of Twitter, I saw that Dan was taking part in a Twitter wine tasting.  You get a bunch of people to buy the same wine and taste it at the same time regardless of where they are - then post comments and see what others are saying.  Maybe a gimmick, but a fun one.

I think part of the problem with Twitter is that the website is so awful, and doesn't actually help newcomers to do anything but the most basic posting.  You can post links, photos, videos on twitter.  You can send and receive messages directly with friends. You can search for anything and see tweets relevant to that search term.  But those things can be pretty daunting for someone who's new to it.

As I said, I'm still pretty green so I don't pretend to be an expert.  Until recently my Twitter access has been mostly on my mobile (using Twitterberry) - just posting the odd update and seeing what friends are posting.  I've now discovered Tweetdeck, which I highly recommend. Tweetdeck allows you to view your Twitter activity including any groups or searches in neat columns in one dashboard.  As a bonus, you can also see all your friends' Facebook status updates, and update your status direct from Tweetdeck.  Awesome.

So my message is; don't think of Twitter in terms of learning what people are having for breakfast.  Think of it as a new and rapidly evolving form of social media that is here to stay. And the sooner you embrace it the better placed you'll be to use it to your benefit.

Follow me on twitter

Ryanair and social media

I'm indebted to Dan for posting this on Twitter. Web developer Jason Roe thought he'd discovered a flaw in Ryanair's website while booking a flight, and blogged about how it seemed that users could book a flight for a charge of '0.00'.

The response from one of Ryanair's developers is classic, and the official corporate response is just as bad - both showing a complete lack of understanding of social media.

It's hilarious in its own right, but as I read it I couldn't help but think the attitude was very reminiscent of one of our ex-zavvi colleagues. I wonder if you can guess who? Answers on a postcard or feel free to drop some clues into comments (no names please...).

Oh, and yes, the Ryanair calendar girl photo is entirely gratuitous since you mention it.

Follow Follow

The expression Follow Follow means something different where I come from, but I'm talking about following melvtopia here, not Rangers.

I said some time ago that I'd like to reach 25 followers by the end of February, and right now I don't think it's looking very likely. I have 11 at the moment, so a bit of a way to go. All you have to do, by the way, is click the 'Follow this Blog' link to the right.

In marketing terms you 11 followers are the Trendsters; you don't follow brands, you like to discover them. You are the people who drive the brand (I acknowledge that I'm taking some license here with the use of the term 'brand') but you are selfish - it's all about me, me, me...

The rest of you are Restless. You're early followers. You like to use brands to define yourselves. If I launched a range of melvtopia clothing you'd be my target market. And yes, you aspire to be one of the trendsters.

There's a third group; the Trailers. This is the mass market, who haven't yet discovered melvtopia. And, frankly, never will. Unless I can get a celebrity on board then they'll come flocking.

So you restless ones, this is all on you. I need you to commit to melvtopia. And to give you an added incentive, I'll give £1 to the Disasters Emergency Committee for every follower signed up by the end of this month. I'll even double that for every one over 25.

It's a win-win-win. I get my followers; DEC gets some money and you make sure you become a part of the fastest-growing media property since Facebook. Or maybe Twitter. Or maybe 'Girls and Corpses'.

In the immortal words of the Blessed Delia. Let's be having you!