Media, Re-invented

A new website called TweetCommons has just launched.

"TweetCommons is a new web-based initiative to connect Canadians with their elected representatives in government using Twitter."

The TweetCommons press release notes that a similar initiative in the US helped push more government officials to Tweet more often. Perhaps more importantly, TweetCommons will facilitate a more multi-directional relationship between people and government. In the press release, TweetCommons stated:

"We are also focused on smoothly expanding functionality so Canadians can look forward to interacting with their government in new ways."

In my most recent Column, I discuss how the division between government and people is breaking down and how online social media tools are enabling this process.

The most exciting section of the TweetCommons website is "The People", although the tag line "talk back" seems like it might miss the point. This section, and Twitter conversations in general, are more about new forms of networked, widely distributed discussions, rather than about "talking back" to politicians. Online participatory media practices differ from traditional media relations in that they produce a citizen-powered dialogue that includes, but is not driven by, those in government, or the select few working for big media outlets.

Exciting projects like this reinforce the importance of the Open Internet.

TweetCommons is an entry point for people to join in on conversations about key issues and create a path forward that benefits all Canadians - yet another example of how media is being reinvented before our eyes.

http://www.tweetcommons.com/

**Also check out a very similar impressive project here: http://politwitter.ca/
-the more media experiments the better!