Also don’t forget to check out the UK universities Twitterleague .

List of UK Universities Twitter Accounts

This list was last updated on 11th September 2009.

Today I made the wrong decision to stay away from Twitter to concentrate on some thesis writing. However thanks to @TimCooperUK, I’ve been alerted on a recent activity on twitter that has been creating quite a lot of buzz if you search the hashtag #amazonfail. So I’ve decided to update an article I wrote recently regarding “People Power on Twitter” for the Moldova protest. You can find the original post below.

Apparently, Amazon is deleting the rankings (de-rank) of LBGT and erotica books. Though this has possibly just caught on fire today, this has been going on since February. The response the authors affected got from Amazon was this

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

Some people are already closing their Amazon accounts and threatening to stop buying from Amazon. I’ve never seen hashtag updated so fast! I’m beginning to wonder if Twitter will crash because of it! They’ve even already managed to make a logo out of it! That was quick!

Though what will be more interesting to see is what will happen tomorrow? What type of impact, action, maybe backtrack (like Facebook case) or PR response will come from Amazon. Will we see a 24 hour turnaround in response to Twitter “Collectively Organizing and Mobilizing Action”? Will customer voices on Twitter be heard loud and clear? Will Twitterers #amazonfail come together to launch a petition to demand Amazon to get their act together (Just updated – here it is http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-protest-at-amazons-new-adult-policy? Are we going to see a Facebook Group created to boycott Amazon until they change their ways (spoke to soon – its here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70927484220)?

Here’s a snapshot of #amazonfail

Here’s a video on Youtube that popped out around an hour ago

The great thing about all this is… I’m sure I’ll find out in REAL-TIME what the outcome will be. I don’t have to wait for the news to come on, or a newspaper website to publish it, or even someone to blog about it. All I need to do is check #amazonfail on Twitter or even better yet, I’m sure one of my friends on Twitter will tweet it or RT it to me. Let’s see what “Collective Organizing and Mobilizing Action” (COMA) on Twitter will result in this time.

Here are some links talking in more details about #amazonfail

1. #Amazonfail and the politics of anti-corporate cyberactivism
2. An open letter to Jeff Bezos
3. Amazon Rank
4. Amazon Follies
5. GoogleBomb AmazonFail
6. Why Is Amazon Removing The Sales Rankings From Gay, Lesbian Books?
7. Amazon Accused of Removing Gay Books from Rankings

Original post:
There’s so much going around Twitter these days, its quite hard to keep up with its news and progress. We hear Twitter being mentioned everyday now and it might be a surprise to some people that those news headlines regarding Twitter are no longer confined to “What are you doing?” chit chats or the newest celebrity using twitter.

Just take an example of what is currently happening in the Moldova protest. People are “Collectively Organizing and Mobilizing Action” (COMA), which is from where I stand, is the true value of Twitter. Some people have called it the “Twitter Revolution” because of Twitters ability to report real-time events in a simplistic micro-blogging method of tagging each conversation with #pman. The #pman hashtag is then picked up by twitter’s search results at search.twitter.com . Then through these tags, more links and social media channels can be shared to update #pman with Flickr pics or Facebook group links and other social/new media and mobile applications.

I feel Flickr and other photographic new media outlets are also very powerful in this protest because everyone knows that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. And not to be outdone, YouTube ,Vimeo and embedded videos from various news and other websites can also play an important part of social media if something significant happens like the incident where a man died at the G20 protest in London (link to YouTube video).

Here is an interview with an internet expert for global politics (Evgeny Morozov) talking about just how much of a factor is Twitter in the Moldova protest.

Moldova Twitter Revolution

So there could be a 1,000,001 reasons for governments, organizations or individuals to ignore or resist social media, however there are also 1,000,001 reasons to join the Twitter Revolution of “Collectively Organizing and Mobilizing Action” (COMA).

We knew it was coming right? Someone was bound to propose on Twitter! Gosh I wish someone would propose to me on Twitter … LOL

Anyways, check out this awesome video about this guy called Drew Olanoff (@drew) talking about the moment he proposed to his girlfriend on twitter. What really grabbed my attention well was, yes of course the proposal itself, but what was even more interesting was the hashtag stream he used to actually propose to her. You’ll understand after you watch the whole thing, trust me, you’ll see my point! Enjoy!

#Blame what…..?

Ok, so now you’ve watched the whole thing… So, what did you think?

What a cool way to raise awareness on cancer isn’t it? Its so personal yet so effective. Check out @drew’s #blamedrewscancer twitter stream here.

Even I have #blamedrewscancer on my troubles! Check it out!

Multiplying the effect of personal causes...

I think the important point I’m hoping to make here is how easy it is nowadays for us to take our everyday experiences and turn them into something positive. We do this by sharing our emotions, our troubles and make those experiences even more meaningful and useful to us as well as others too!

What can we do…?

People might sometimes be wondering, why do we turn to social media to create interest or get something done? And how can we effectively use social media to engage with people on our causes. I think instead of asking “What it is that social media can do for us?”, we should ask ourselves “What can we do for each other?”

Because at the end of the day social technologies are not there to solve our problems. It is not the answer! It is the platform or vehicle used to create conversations and bonds as well as relationships between people with either similar interests or life experiences. And I feel very strongly this would be the most strategic and effective way of identifying and deciding on the best ways of applying social technologies in local councils.

Ask Drew!

So if you ask me, what’s the best way of social media or web 2.0 or social technologies or whatever you might want to call it… I say, why don’t you ask Drew? He seems to have grasp the true potential of it and has even got himself a wonderful gal to spend the rest of his life with! Congratulations Drew!

Hope this was useful folks!

xxx

Liz