Operation: Budding Genius

“In November 2008 a total of 40 articles appeared in British local and national newspapers that included the word ‘Twitter’. Though a quarter of them were published by the Guardian, this paper’s technology correspondent nonetheless found himself explaining to general readers that ‘Twitter, a mobile social network, has generated lots of buzz’. The Daily Telegraph, quaintly, was still using the word to describe a way of talking.
The following month, 85 articles appeared on the subject. By January 2009, it was 206. But those were still the dark ages. Hot on the heels of the Twitter plane crash came the site’s first live action celebrity lift catastrophe, when the actor Stephen Fry, a tweeter so prolific that one hopes he still eats, offered breathless updates from the stationary elevator in which he briefly found himself marooned. (His followers total is now 350,000).”

Article at guardian.co.uk

Report on the Guardian website

“John Prescott has been chosen as the unlikely leader of Labour’s general election campaign on the internet, as the party prepares to launch a low-budget battle for a fourth term in government”

What on earth is going on? John Prescott does not strike me as the most computer literate member of the Labour party. On further reading the name Alistair Campbell appears

Last night Alastair Campbell, former director of communications under Tony Blair, who also has a large following online, said it was clear Prescott was succeeding in motivating Labour supporters online in a way nobody else could. “You cannot imagine a cabinet minister getting the huge support he did for a campaign on bankers’ bonuses. What JP has shown is that he has an ability to cut through to voters that needs harnessing. Because he is no longer a cabinet minister, he can be a bit edgier. It is about making it fun. It is part of modern campaigning.”

The knives are out for you Gordon Brown and it looks like Campbell and co are sharpening them to boot

Article from The Telegraph

“She emails her grandchildren and her Christmas message appears on YouTube. Now the Queen has taken a further bold technological step by becoming the first member of the Royal family to have an official engagement tracked on Twitter.”

Wonder what her user name is?