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Since the tragic events in Mumbai, there has been a lot of coverage of the role of Twitter in breaking news, with both advocates and critics referring to the speed of microblogging in providing updates but raising some questions about validity and honesty.

But to be fair, Mainstream Media (MSM) has been increasingly paying attention to Twitter over the last few months:

LA Times: SoCal earthquake has everyone a-Twitter
The Rocky Mountain News twittered from a funeral When Twitter goes bad: newspaper tweets a funeral
Newspapers that Twitter – October Figures (Ignore the strange header message on the blog at the moment!)
CNN incorporates Twitter into live shows, e.g. with Rick Sanchez (@ricksanchezcnn)
CNN and the BBC both refer to Twitter for updates on Mumbai.

There are plenty more examples around, so it’s almost incredible that a mainstream UK publication can still create something quite so inept:

Is Twitter the new Facebook?

You can hear millions screaming in pain as they collectively answer ThisisLondon – ‘No, you buffoon’.

12 negative comments have already been posted, including mine. Sadly they edited out the link to www.140char.com, and others have had comments edited, with no public acknowledgement. Tech journalist Kate Bevan (@katebevan) has also been expressing her disapointment on Twitter, and having her comments edited. Also got negative comments from Amanda Rose (@amandita), who has researched Twitter extensively for academia (including interviewing yours truly!).

I’m not sure it’s worth the energy to deconstruct all the disasters yet again, so here’s my brief comments:

Badly researched, angled and written.

It’s 140 characters on Twitter, not 160.
Barack and Britney are manned by PR people, unlike real celebs ranging from Stephen Fry to Shaquille O’Neal.
The latest figures show about 5 million users per month.
The ‘brevity breeds banality’ issue has been debated, disproved and forgotten for months – brevity can lead to impact or banality depending on the person and content.
Twitter started becoming a news source with events like the UK, LA and Chinese earthquakes, and LA forest fires.
The ‘gimmick’ isn’t following people – the ‘gimmick’ is interacting with people via the reply functionality.

And there’s more. From the article:

‘after several false starts (“Error on page!”) I manage to log on to MoodyShell’s feed. “I hate it when I burn the roof of my mouth and then it starts to peel. Ew!” she says. Fascinating. Another click, and I am officially “following” her. It feels queasy and wrong.’

No wonder it feels wrong, when @nickcurtis hasn’t managed to follow anyone, and has only managed a solitary tweet. You’d also think if you’re posting something about Twitter, it might be worth popping back to check the response? Maybe it would make for a better article?

Maybe someone should point him to the appropriate Twitter search. Or just pointed him to all the similar articles from 18 months ago that were at least defensible by the fact that it was a new service with an initial familiarity hump to get other – everyone struggles with Twitter the first time they log in, and it’s only when they return and start following and using @replies it becomes an essential tool for research,interaction,news gathering, customer service and more.

It’s amazing how the use of social networks, and increasingly microblogging networks like Twitter, can lead to the most wonderful examples of perfect timing!

I’ll be honest and admit that there have been times recently when I’ve wondered whether I’m committed enough to maintaining two blogs – particularly with the slow loading of the site and admin pages I’ve recently experienced, and the fact that all the other lovely contributors have managed to all get busy with their day jobs at the same time. Plus other sites have started appearing which have developed some of the original ideas for 140char a little further (particularly if they’ve had access to developers!). The most recent example is Just Tweet It, which does great directory listings for Twitter. Plus there’s some great blogs keeping track of the latest apps, like Twitterholics, the overview at Twittermaven, and the always great Pistachio Consulting Touchbase blog.

Plus I’m happy to be getting asked to contribute more and more to various projects at work to integrate social media – and I’m about to take a bit of an offline break.

So it took me a day or so to catch up with the source of a lot of buzz on Twitter – Luke Razzell’s awesome guide to Twitter.

I know there have been several guides to Twitter, and various posts about Twitter etiquette, but having finally sat down and had a look at Luke’s 11 page short paper, he’s combined being accessible for new users with being comprehensive for the more experienced. It’s also packed full of great examples (all hyperlinked). It really is that good!

And having read through it, I was amazed to find, on Page 10 ‘see 140Char for some sharp analysis of Twitter and its competitive landscape’

Blimey.

I had to check the url twice to make sure he meant me!

So I guess I better keep going! I’ve had quite a few ideas recently around revamping some of the site, and making sure the focus is on something different and complimentary from the other great blogs and sites out there. And there are a few things I think I can offer.

So although I may or may not have the opportunity to update over the next week, rest assured I will be back – and the site will be new and improved on my return (once I’ve sorted the email overload etc!). And there should be some new and interesting bits.

And in the meantime, go and download Luke’s paper. Read it. And then tell your friends, colleagues and readers.

And make sure everyone thanks Luke at @weaverluke.

Probably the worst article on Twitter in the world…

140char honoured in probably the best guide to Twitter…