A bit of a surprise to see Labour deputy leadership candidate Alan Johnson presented as the poster boy for Twitter in a piece in today’s Guardian output. But then, of course, his campaign is being driven (online at least) by our own Stuart Bruce. I think Stuart’s absolutely right, incidentally: ‘We’ve taken a decision that Alan is not going to start a blog just for the deputy leader contest… It’s better to not blog than to do it badly.’
From there, the article becomes another ‘isn’t Twitter just a waste of time?’ piece. It’s a contention I’m gradually having more sympathy with. I’ve tried to get into Twitter, but I can’t. I’ve tried Jaiku too, and again, whilst there’s a lot to like about it (particularly the Flickr integration), I just haven’t got the spare time.
But I’m convinced that Twitter – as a concept – is definitely on to something. I’ve got an early idea based on microblogging, which excites me and seems to fit very neatly into one of my clients’ areas of activity. I just need to find time to develop it a bit more. (Which pushes Twittering even further down my to-do list.)
Responses
Not just online Simon, there are several of us on the team but my role is Director of Communications, which amongst many other things meant I was responsible for Alan’s real world campaign launch on Tuesday. And thanks for the comment about the decision not to blog.
Thanks Stuart, I had a feeling that was the case, but wasn’t sure.