Prompt's TechBlog

For those of you who follow Gordon Brown's movements as closely as the tabloids follow the antics of Britney Spears, I have good news: 10 Downing Street has launched its very own Twitter service.

Twitter is a service that allows users to communicate through quick, frequent messages by answering the question "what are you doing?". Users can send these short messages, or tweets, online or from their mobile devices. The service has grown rapidly and recently hit the headlines because of its ability to relay information so quickly. Twitter users were tweeting about the biggest earthquake to hit the UK in 50 years before a peep had been heard from formal news organisations, the BBC included.

When it comes to Number 10, Twitter provides a constant rolling stream of information, not to mention a rather voyeuristic peephole, into the daily activities of Gordon Brown and his government. For instance, I have just been able to monitor the progress of Brown's meeting with Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, through the following tweets:

While dragging government communications into the 21^st century with services like Twitter can help provide information and interactive communication channels between citizens and the government, particularly when it comes to often apathetic younger voters, one has to wonder if perhaps we shouldn't pay too much attention to the man behind the curtain. I, for one, certainly do not need to know that "No10 admin in the US is tired, but surviving on strong coffee and muffins".

# posted by Tarryn at 5:04 PM