This may be Australia’s first genuine grass-roots example of how social media can be used to have a political impact. Mark Pesce wrote about it for ABC Unleashed today and Crikey pointed to some of the blog traffic on it earlier this week. The SMH had a story on the issue last friday.
Some companies are using twitter and Obama has made great use of twitter, as well as other social media tools.
Pesce doesn’t underestimate the impact of twitterers on the clean feed issue:
In less than a week’s time, Conroy has found himself in deeper and hotter water than ever before in his ministerial career. Australia’s Twitterers, better connected than the Government which governs them, have out-organized, out-thought, and out-manoeuvered the government. Senator Conroy has taken a disorganized community of well-connected peers and given them an organizing principle, a raison d’etre. This may not have been Conroy’s intention (I rather think it wasn’t) but the senator must face the consequences of his actions. This mob won’t quiet down until the Government drops the filtering proposal.
Well, we’ll see but it will certainly raise awareness of twittering.
UPDATE: Australian opposition to internet filtering on slashdot
