Lauren WeinsteinMany government agencies are expressing concerns about how to communicate with the public without Twitter, especially in emergencies. Of course, it was a bad idea to become dependent on Twitter to such an extent in the first place, and no matter what happens, this needs rethinking.
Zenicepian@lauren They could publicise hashtag #nowhearthis and publish from a verified regular publisher of valuable information. They can earn public trust not just bullhorn down a monopoly channel
@zenicepian Part of the attraction of course has been that Twitter has been free, so dependence grew partly on that basis instead of spending money developing government funds on systems that were genuinely under their control.
@lauren I I agree free from a monetary perspective but we all became the product. In the past the UK government imbedded updated farming advice within a radio rural based soap called the Archers as a way of softly passing on best practice to the agricultural sector.
@zenicepian I've never been a fan of that "we are the product" terminology. The point is that Twitter users don't have to spend money (at least up until now) to have significant reach, and that's been money saved by government agencies. But it does put a lot at risk if that communications channel is no longer free or goes poof.