Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/843943-police-incident-tweets-wasting-p...

Interesting article in today's Metro. What do you think about Police using social media as a method of communicating with the community?

Does this count as post-post modern, if Police are using social media to discuss Police using social media?

Tags for Forum Posts: media, police, social, twitter

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http://twitter.com/#search/%23gmp24b I've tried to use Twitter. I've followed Liz's link it's a fascinating read but its not. Numerous reports that Gloria gaynot has been murdered, men carrying bag marked swag, who or what is TeamShoutBack, what does #gmp4 mean, what #XFactor got to do with it. Its just a superfluos stream of drivel adding to the information overload we already enjoy.
If you want to read only what the GMP tweeted this is the link you should have used which I posted further down the discussion once the 24 hour experiment was up.

This being the internet, hashtags and searches become hijacked after a day or two by 'satirists' and spammers (as they often do on any non-monitored website). The point about the hashtag was to follow the tweets and and conversation around the tweets (some of which tries to be amusing) as it happened. Like fish, searches for past events often go bad after 3 days, which is why people cache a tweeted event in various different ways which I won't trouble you with now.

By the way, on a more general note about Twitter, you'll get a superflous stream of drivel, if you follow people who tweet superflous drivel or hashtags about TV/celebs/drivel, neither of which you need to do and, in fact, I would recommend you don't. This is in no way different from if you decided to flick through a copy of the Daily Star or the Daily Express that you found on the bus, you didn't have to but you did, so don't be cross when your brain implodes under the stupidity you read.
The Headline is misleading. It's not tweeting that costs money, it's dealing with crime

‘We see time and again the same families, the same areas and the same individuals causing the same problems, and these people are causing a considerable drain to the public purse.’


I suppose the danger is that if they aren't careful with their language the tweets may prejudice a subsequent court action. There is a reason for police officialese - " an individual was found to be in posession of a firearm "
Does this count as post-post modern, if Police are using social media to discuss Police using social media?

Don't know about that but you, the British Transport Police, have just made your own clever use of social media to bring our attention to some of your Manchester colleagues daily travails which presumably mirror your own experiences and those of the Met.
Will, you may say so, but I could not possibly agree. The Tax Payers Alliance get far too much media attention for what they actually contribute to the debate. I have never read/heard a single thing they say that has contributed meaningfully to a debate or even demonstrates that they are aware of the facts behind anything they are talking about. 'Rent a quote' on this story indicated that the spokesperson was under the impression that the GMP were going to do this every day as opposed to an exercise in demonstrating how much police time is wasted.

They are phoned by lazy journalists who tell them that some public body is doing X and the standard response is always the same. I've yet to read anything that indicates that they've even acquainted themselves with the facts on the subject which they are given free rein to comment on.

If you can give me one piece of concrete evidence of 'something useful' they have contributed to any debate in the public sphere, I'd gladly read it.

*sigh* There is no such thing as 'twitter mafia', which implies that there is some barrier on joining. It's a tool for creating a network, as big or small as you choose. You sign up, you write short messages and people read them. You read theirs, you may comment on them or pass them on to others. A smug person will be smug because of their nature, they don't become so as soon as they sign up to a website. They also won't make many connections, generosity is a characteristic much prized on Twitter whereas self-promotion is not.

If you don't want to use the tool, fine, but it is hardly fair to criticise something you haven't tried (I'm sure your reading will soon progress to 'Green Eggs and Ham' by the immortal Dr Seuss, still the greatest response to people who say they don't like something before they've tried it).
Will I can't resist any longer. Let's just take what you say one thing at a time.
1. Well to be fair liz there is a barrier to joining - a technology barrier and a language barrier! - that is also a barrier to being a modern human being.
2. Twitter is pretty pointless if you don't have an android or iphone - the technology behind twitter was originally designed to work with SMS messages on a bog standard cellphone and still does.
3. Plus if you are like me and haven't a clue what all the euphemisms and short cuts are then you are lost! - in anything new you're a bit lost at first. Here's a website you can try next time you're lost.
4. Dare I say that many groups like this get hijacked and possibly taken over by a minority element - like the HAPS group locally for example? - you could say that but I think the openness of HoL will mean it's different.

Now, are you going to try twitter or am I going to break your arm and leave a horse's head in your bed?
Not sure I understand why there is a language barrier. People tweet in all languages. I follow people who tweet in German, Dutch and Spanish which I can just about decipher (well I get a bit lost on the Dutch) I even follow someone who tweets in Greek sometimes which is utterly beyond me. There is a translation facility on Twitter as well which is adequate for following 140 character messages

If you mean literacy, I'm guessing all those folk who text, use Facebook or Instant Messaging have the same issues so unfair to single out Twitter.

If you mean the 'language of Twitter' like hashtag or 'follow', as John says, 5 minutes on a help site will sort that out (and I suspect lots of people on Twitter are not bothered by all the terms).

So, as John says, Try it, try it you will see...
Will you succeed?
Yes you will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
Ah that's easy. It enables you to find on Twitter everything that related to that subject. So if you are watching Question Time on BBC you put #bbcqt in your message and anyone who is watching and searching for other people's comments while watching the programme will see yours in a Twitter search even if they don't follow you. Also works without hash
Conferences use them to collate all the comments being tweeted by various delegates (a bit like crowdsourced minutes).
If you are getting unwelcome messages, you can block the sender but if it is simply that you think there is too many tweets, the point is you don't read them all, unless they are addressed to you but, rather like a newspaper or a forum you select what interests you.
Still is you don't want to use it, fine. It is simply not the tool for you. Doesn't mean there is anything intrinsically wrong with the tool.
Now, Liz, I think I get it. GMP have used Twitter to tell politicians and the public that most of what they do is repetitive, not worthy of their training and long experience, largely involves the same recalcitrant individuals and families, distracts them from the real work of their vocation as police officers, cannot be fitted into their imposed policing targets, should really be looked after by ancillary staff or CPSOs, is never taken account of in league tables, never gets a mention in Ofsted Reports, and makes them long for the enhanced early retirement which probably no longer exists.
Now why didn't I have Twitter during my quarter century of Metropolitan footslogging on Hornsey Lane? It would have helped me to let off steam.
The more I think about it OAE, the more I think what GMP did was genius. I've heard them talk on radio and TV about the issue of how police time is used up, I've read articles in papers, but to read a day in the life of a police call centre as it happens really brings it home...and, of course, it will happen again today (and every day) added to all the joys of binge-drinking Britain for the police going on shift tonight to look forward to, it being Friday night and all.

If you want to read A Tweeted Day in the Life in full, here's the link to the GMP website
My favourites: "Spoke to a confused man at Longsight." and at 12.00midnight: "Issued Cannabis warning" (like, 'Look mate, there's a lot of low grade sh*t about - careful what you pay for.')
gmp24_1:
Call 384 report of man holding baby over bridge - police immediately attended and it was man carrying dog that doesn't like bridges #gmp24 [via Twitter]

I want to know more.

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