Election.Twitter.com
Image by rcarver via FlickrSince it’s inception, Twitter has been known as the place people talk about what they are doing. But when you have millions of people around the world talking about what they are doing, thinking, seeing, etc, Twitter becomes "what’s happening now". And in that light, Twitter launched a new service last night called Election.Twitter.com.
First, and most importantly, you don’t have to be a twitter member or user to use election.twitter.com. For many people, it will simply be a way to quickly check in on the zeitgeist of the election. If you are a twitter user, you can join the conversation by posting directly from election.twitter.com and your update will go to everyone who follows you and into the election timeline.
Twitter launched this new service in time for tonight’s debate (or town hall meeting depending if McCain shows). I plan to watch in our living room with the debate on the big screen and election.twitter.com on the coffee table on a laptop. It will be like the stock price feed that flies across the bottom CNBC when the market is open. I expect it will add a new dimension to the debate watching experience and I am excited about it.
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Comments (Archived):
Twitter should take note of what @jowyang has organized ( http://www.web-strategist.c… ) He has come up with a framework whereby people can rank the candidates on each individual Q/A basis. This (as well as election.twitter.com is a crude interface, but shows you where things are heading).www.twitter.com/A_F
lol, as if any of this even matters. between election fraud, the two party system in general, and the banking crisis (which mcbama will not even attempt to solve but rather will “cross party lines to unite in such troubled times” — LOL ) the people are truly powerless.though it is cool for twitter, and a nice social media innovation, even if the political system makes it irrelevant. would love to see something like this for local elections where democracy has not totally been destroyed. outside.in, that’s all you……
well i still care about this election but i get your point.
What the Twitter team has done, again, is far more importantthan many realize. If we are to be truly coherent, and participate in in life during ourfinite lives, how better than to be thoughtfully engaged; each voiceparticipating in the whole because they can (thanks @Twitter team) ?One asterisk to my ‘Let’s talk this out’ on Twitter enthusiasm,is that while I fully welcome all voices to most discussions(for what they can offer, if not their inherent right),it seems that opinions of US citizens would be of moreimport here on election.twitter.com.I believe this will be evidenced if Twitter leaves this in playduring a future, contested international cycle.Either way, I’m grateful that this small shop ofvery excellent young human beings, Americans as it were, has provided more of their gift; exponential increase to human interaction.
ed – i am going to reblog that on fredwilson.vci love the thought
I am humbled. I was a bit groggy this AM typing. I should have proof read none the less!Thank You Fred.
This is a really interesting use of the technology that Twitter is built on. Just spent a few minutes there and the feed is active with the Bailout (Splurge). Talk about instant feedback cycles. This kind of reminds me of the sci-fi show a while back ‘Max Headroom’. Always enjoyed that show, but not sure if I’m ready to live in that world.
Love it. Next addition has to be filtering by minimum # of followers or something….but I love this.
Love the use of Twitter for this. Not only does it allow people to grasp the underlying power of Twitter but presents an interesting idea for a streaming/engaging comment thread for large media blogs/sites.Can’t wait to see how this will be morphed by organizations, events and brands. Would be great to watch the Super Bowl this way, popular TV shows,etc…
Twitter could open source the code they use to do this and let anyone do this for any event or activity
They should consider merging the output with something like Wordle.net like the Pew Research center did:http://pewresearch.org/pubs…This really is the future of semantic culture that is forming. Great stuff.
I think the possibilities of this type of service are enormous I’m glad to see people here get it. I was surprised by the piece Silicon Alley Insider did on the service, I’m at a loss as to why they don’t get it ( link to their article http://tinyurl.com/3w832p)
Twitter’s election micro site seems pretty well thought out. I like how it automatically pauses the update stream if you scroll down to read the comments below the fold. In general the speed and scope of the stream is overwhelming. I’m writing this before the debates get underway. Maybe once the debates begin, the conversation will get a little more focused.
John McCain should let Sarah fill in for him tonight.
I like the fact that Twitter’s Summize boys are following the lead of conversation search engine Samepoint.com with our http://www.samepoint.com/el… sub site. Tapping into the collective comments can provide unique insights into the election debate.
talk about relationships what was todd palins relationship to a radical group that wanted to secede from america