It’s been a busy week in the world of social media. So rather than highlight anything in particular, I thought I’d do a quick round-up of the stories that caught my eye.
First up, the Queen. Her Majesty was in the news for two reasons this week: the first being that she sent out her first email for more than 24 years, responding to 23 bloggers around the world who have written about life in the Commonwealth. It’s supposed to mark the celebration of a “new generation”, but if that was really the case wouldn’t she have just updated her Facebook status or sent out a tweet?
Next up, Twitter. It appears celebrities are getting into trouble for some of their tweets. Now, the common man largely has nothing to worry about (mainly because nobody cares what you’re doing and why you’re doing it). But when Labour MP and Minister for Further Education of Birmingham, Sion Simon, joked that Britain’s Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle was to blame for swine flu, then people took notice. Check out the Telegraph for their top 10 worst tweets. It makes for some amusing reading.
On the subject of swine flu, The Centre For Disease Control and Prevention has been using Twitter to provide links to news, helpful recommendations, information on antiviral drugs, and the like. But while the CDC is spreading useful info on Twitter, there are those who have been spreading mis-information, leading the nay-sayers to jump on Twitter’s back. But to suggest that Twitter is propagating fear amongst the masses as some have implied, would be foolish. Twitter is merely a tool to be used. As with television, newspaper, and radio before it, it’s open to abuse. But the answer is to ween out the abusers, not to blame the tool.
Oh, and that second bit of news involving the Queen? Well, it’s nothing to do with social media, but amusing nonetheless. Two people were caught having sex on Her Majesty’s lawn at Windsor Castle. Maybe the Queen should have written about that!