A bunch of Twitterers

My One Alfred Place stories (see here and here) in the Independent on Sunday seem to be causing a bit of a fuss within the Twitterati.

Many seem to assume that the quotes from chief exec Sharon Brittan are all part of some grand spinning strategy the club had cooked up, so they wonder why OAP would chose to run its PR in such an incendiary manner. The answer is obvious, Twitterers: it didn't!

Here's what happened: dear old SlackBelly found out about the One Alfred changes from a source and rang up the club for a response. They gave me Brittan's telephone number, I called her unannounced, asked her what was going on, wrote down her responses and then put them in the newspaper. Simples.

There was once a word which described this process, although sadly I fear it to be a forgotten art. It used to be called journalism.

A reader writes

Exciting times at the Sunday Telegraph, where new business editor Kamal Ahmed has just arrived.

Ahmed, who isn't a business journalist, is seeking to make up for a lack of experience by asking readers to do his column for him.

He writes last week: "I am going to try to share my column with readers before it appears and reflect on what you tell me before coming to any conclusions."

Readers are invited to join Ahmed on his Twitter feed - ahmedk123 - to read what he is (or rather his readers are) thinking of writing - an approach that has prompted the unthinkable.
In response there is now a SlackBelly Twitter page too! - which will be used solely for the purpose of gently heckling Kamal.

Will Will give up twittering for career in newspapers?

Has Daily Telegraph editor "Thirsty" Will Lewis given up on Twitter?
That's the latest internet fad where the under-employed reveal pointless facts about themselves over the worldwide interweb, but Will has barely been twittering at all this month, perhaps chosing to focus on - what is it again? - oh yes, a newspaper with 800,000 paying readers.
The last offerings from late February are that he was "on the way back from Paris" and "on the train to Lincoln" - while this month's sole entry reads: "Talking about twitter at a lunch party and showing people how it works".
This is fascinating stuff, and a vital contribution to the exciting new multi-media world, but lacks the sparkle of his earlier efforts.
My favourite: "Making porridge for the children".
Seriously, he's an inspiration.