Twitter winning the 2012 US Election / Rupert Murdoch ..* Notes *..

How Twitter is winning the 2012 US election

In the 2012 US presidential election, it is clear the brief age of political blogs shaping the political narrative has passed and we are now in the era of Twitter. The proof is in Twitter's big role in shaping the coverage and the winners and losers of this month's presidential debates

Garance Franke-Ruta, a senior editor for the Atlantic, declared:

"[The] last cycle was all about blogs and the incremental journalism of blogs. This cycle we have really a Twitter campaign where a lot of the conversation has moved off the blogs onto Twitter especially for political insiders." 

Twitter's advocates have big numbers on their side. Adam Sharp, with the barely tweetable job title of "head of government, news and social innovation" at Twitter, noted there had been 360,000 total tweets during the two conventions in 2008. The total for both in 2012 was nearly 14m. Mitt Romney's speech peaked at 14,000 tweets per minute. (tpm) Michelle Obama in her convention speech doubled that to 28,000 – and Barack Obama then took it up to 54,000tpm

 "We have shifted from a 24-hours news cycle to a 140-character one."










There is certainly a risk that Twitter will lead to ever faster but shallower politics. Romney's response to the killing of the US ambassador in Benghazi was widely criticized as intemperate, premature and in breach of longstanding protocols of political unity in the face of attacks.

Rupert Murdoch apologises to Hugh Grant over 'love child' tweet
Rupert Murdoch has apologised to Hugh Grant after he suggested on Twitter that the actor had abandoned his "love child".

The News Corporation boss made his second Twitter climbdown in less than 24 hours on Thursday, as he expressed regret for earlier comments about Grant's personal life.

Murdoch said on Twitter: "Hugh Grant states that he is deeply involved in his daughter's life – I accept that,regret tweet on the matter. Apologies to both parents."



Last night Murdoch sought to clarify his description of "scumbag celebrities" who met the prime minister to talk about press regulation during the Conservative party conference.

He clarified on Wednesday evening: "I did not say all celebrities were scumbags. Check my tweet. And apology to any who misunderstood."

Murdoch has repeatedly found himself in hot water since he joined Twitter on 1 January.