Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Takeaways? Alcohol? Swearing? Many people will be 8 days in, perhaps finding giving up their vice difficult already. However, Italian priests have called on their followers to give up technology such as texting, social networking and computer games so Italy’s physical social interaction can dominate once again. Digital Birmingham’s very own Dave Harte has given up Twitter, but I don’t think the Archbishop of Modena had much to do with his decision……….

More – What have you given up for Lent?

What does the average Joe on the street know about how galaxies are formed? Well, apparently we know more than we think: www.GalaxyZoo.org allows anyone to help researchers at Oxford University identify the shapes of one million galaxies photographed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope.

This is the latest example of how computers and humans can not only co-exist, but can combine their strengths in new and innovative ways to achieve things that neither could achieve alone. More – What do you know about galaxy formation?

Twestival , or Twitter Festival, was an idea which originated in London last year.  Then, people who knew each other online through their Twitter communities organised a social event to raise money for local homeless charities.  Yesterday, Twestival events were held around the world to benefit Charity: Water a non-profit organisation funding small scale water projects in developing world countries.

Birmingham Twestival was held at Poppy Red in The Arcadian.  It was a very well attended event which has raised £1519.  It also shows that when people meet online nowadays it has become a lot more natural to then meet up in real life, something that has also been evident in Birmingham with the success of the Social Media Cafe. More – Birmingham Twestival

The Airbus that collided with a flock of birds last week in New York, and ended up (by the amazing precision of the Captain and his co-pilot) safely landing in the Hudson River, is what everyone is talking about. Very rarely do planes, which have to land prematurely due to failed engine(s), have a happy ending in which everyone (155 people) survives with little more than bumps, bruises and shock.

Picture of Airbus floating in the Hudson River

Many saw images of the dramatic incident, along with accompanying explanations, across the world before the newsrooms broadcast anything. Janis Krums, a New Yorker, who happened to be on one of the ferries that was despatched to the stricken plane to start to rescue the passengers, took a birds eye photograph of the Airways Airbus on his mobile phone and posted it straight onto his Twitter profile. At the same time, professional news photographers and cameramen were still trying to locate where on the Hudson the actual plane was!

More – The power of Twitter

An Australian court has agreed with a lawyer’s argument that the only way to serve repossession papers to a young couple was via their Facebook profile. It is the first time that the social network has been used in such a way, but after all traditional methods such as face to face visits, court summons and letters  were exhausted, the lawyer resorted to more innovative means.

More – Nowhere to hide on social networks?