#happybirthday

Happy Birthday Twitter! You’re no longer a baby or a toddler – you’re now FIVE YEARS OLD!

I stumbled across this piece from NPR and learned that in 5 short years, the 140 character social networking site now boasts 200 million users, who send more than 100 million tweets each day. Just five years ago words like tweet, hash tag, trending and retweet had completely different definitions. Abbreviations like RT and #ff were meaningless. The lives of celebrities like Demi Moore, Justin Beiber and 50 Cent were reported by third party gossip columns and websites – not straight from their blackberries.

The big celebrity tweeters hold a special appeal. It’s similar to those photo stories in magazines “Celebrities Being Just Like Us”. You know, shopping in the supermarket, doing their laundry, sweating at the gym. Except now we get to know little, relatively inconsequential things about their everyday lives. For example:

BritneySpears: “I love Japan! I think all the tiny cars are so cute! –Britney”

 

Shaquille O’Neal: “Anotha sleepless nite, n twitter land, aaaaaggggghhhhhhh, whyyyyyyyyyyyy”

 

Elijah Wood: “Dancing in my underwear like Tom Cruise in Risky Biz, lol”

and most recently: Charlie Sheen:  After years of being at the mercy of a decaying troll, charliesheen.com is finally in the hands of its Warlock owner! Go Now! c

Celebrities aside, I thought the statistics from Ireland were particularly interesting. The most recent research shows that teeny tiny little Ireland has 0.5% of the world’s tweeters – which ranks 17th among the world’s twitter accounts. Not only that but we come 15th in volume of tweets! Here’s the research.

It’s no secret that I am a twitter addict (hence the photo above…) It was especially riveting in the recent General Election (or #ge11 as it was affectionately called by the twitterati). It’s also alerted me to breaking news – including the day the luas crashed into a Dublin Bus (or was it the other way around?) and the verdict of the Eamon Lillis Trial (before even the wires had it!). It’s also a sense of community, a chance to flesh things out and a way to connect and share ideas.

So Twitter – I salute you. Consider this a #ff in blog form. In no particular order, some of my favourite Irish Tweeters:

@DarraghDoyle, @Anniewestdotcom, @ColmTobin, @thebubbleboy,

@margareteward, @thenakedadventurer, @aislingmkeenan,

@Rosemarymaccabe, @Suziebie,@adrianweckler,

@HelenMcCormack, @EleanorFitz, @Carolmhunt,

@Urchinette, @antiroom, @broadsheet_ie,

@RebeccaMeehan, @FionnDavenport, @Pixievondust,

@breakfastnt, @jenoconnell

 

I leave you with this super lovely video to celebrate Twitter’s 5th Anniversary. Look out for @SnoopDogg

I Believe in Miracles…

I’m a big fan of new beginnings – New Year’s day, the first day of school, another year older etc. I really revel in that brand new clean slate…which of course isn’t really that new because it happens at least a few times a year! It’s a chance to make a better you, change old ways and possibly buy some new school supplies (god I’m such a stationary nerd!).

In saying all that – I’ve never had much time for Lent and giving up things. Religious stuff aside, I’ve just never been very good at sacrificing things I love. But this time is going to be different, I tell you! Different!

After a hugely successful Pancake Tuesday – when I made European style pancakes for the first time ever….with the help of my helpful housemate Roisin, I’ve decided to launch myself into a Lent free from Chocolate and Sweets.

This may sound like a bog standard Lenten promise, but let me assure you – for me this is a huge undertaking. Chocolate and Jellies are two of my most delicious vices and the idea of giving them up scares the bejesus out of me. I immediately started bargaining….you know “hmmm…do biscuits count?” and “What about natural confectionary…its natural right?”. I have vetoed both of those questions. Yes biscuits count, as do any sweets with the word natural in them. Just thought of a new one! “Does Hot Chocolate count?” Hmmm….

So in honour of what I’m giving up – here are some lovely reminders of what’s to come at the end of my forty days of hell.

Also this awesome Chocolate related song:

 

Phew! My mouth is actually watering already and we’re only on DAY TWO! It’s going to be a loooooong 40 days.

So what are you giving up?

PS. Just glad I’m not giving up anything crazy like TEA…imagine?!

GE11 – what a COUNT!

…see what I did there? Bit of toilet humour to brighten up this politics post! *

So my first ever work election is over and I survived! I can happily say that through the extreme exhaustion, sugar highs and caffeine lows it was one of the best experiences of my career so far and probably in general. And that’s without mentioning the historical significance of it for Ireland!

I was working with a team of 4 others in the Newsroom, updating count information from the various count centres as they came in. If I didn’t know exactly how the Proportional Representation voting system worked before – I sure do now! (For my US and UK friends…this system is why the counting is taking so long!). I saw first hand how the electorate punished Fianna Fail and several high profile ministers who would have been shoe ins only a few short years ago. How unfortunately, the Green Party now has no voice in the Dail. The incredible rise of Independent candidates like Mick Wallace, Shane Ross and Luke “Ming” Flanagan and the historic levels of support for both Labour and especially Fine Gael.

But all those obvious things aside – here are some of my most memorable moments from working on GE11:

1. The shock and hilarity of Seamus Kirk calling Taoiseach Brian Cowen Bertie Ahern on the day the Election was called. He said, ”it is understood that at this stage An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wants to make an announcement.” FAIL!

2. The first scandal of the election: Labour’s Pat Rabbitte being sexist. The Irish Times reports that he said, “You might as well wander down Grafton Street and see if you can meet a couple of good-looking women and say, would you ever mind coming up for the photograph, it’s only for four weeks”  - In the end none of the women pictured in that front row got elected!

3. The Dylan Haskins phenomenon. The 23 year old Independent candidate for Dublin South East was a media dream – young, ambitious and fresh. His campaign video was a complete work of art and deserves praise in itself. In the end, he was eliminated in the 4th count – but I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him!

From The Comic Cast

 

4. Speaking of posters – there were some gems this time round. Observe:

 

...just give me a vote..any vote..

Poster placement fail.

 

Posters are mostly from the guys at broadsheet.ie and upstart

5. Micheal Martin and the Chinese - I can’t believe that during a General Election a leader would be stupid enough to do this in front of a microphone…but it provided much amusement! Behold:

6. The great excitement in the Newsroom when Mary Coughlan lost her seat in Donegal!

7. Not as great as the excitement at the Wicklow count centre when Dick Roche lost his…. (30 seconds in – and watch for the auld woman dancing at the end!)

So how do I feel about the incoming Dail? I’m very much in wait and see mode.

*Please note: I worked a whopping 33 hours this weekend…my humour seems to have suffered slightly. Apologies for very crap jokes that may result.