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Sweden Experiments With Public Twitter Takeover
revealingheart writes "BBC reports that Sweden is allowing one citizen per week to take control of its official Twitter feed, in what's been described as 'the world's most democratic Twitter experiment.' Adam Arnesson, a 21-year-old organic sheep farmer, is said to be the biggest star of the project so far, uploading photos and videos of life on his family's farm; while a female minister in the Church of Sweden and a Bosnian immigrant have also posted on the feed. The Swedish Institute and VisitSweden launched the experiment in December, which has helped to double Sweden's Twitter followers in the past month."
Cool! Let's check out the Twitter feed.
"Open-mindedness often shines like a bright flower in a blurry landscape of prejudices."
...aaaaand it's as douchey as every other Twitter feed ever.
Hey, instead of listening to the government say nothing interesting, lets listen to random citizens say nothing interesting. Actually, this is a pretty cool idea -- there's not a chance anyone's going to say anything less interesting than stuff that would come from the Gov't. So hey, keep it coming!
so that they wont notice the entire world going down the toilet
There's another kind?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
From the article:
"Sweden is by no means struggling to attract tourists. Foreign visitors made almost 8 million overnight stays in 2010, up 28% from 2002. Stockholm in particular has gained from the success of Stieg Larsson's multimillion selling Millennium books, which are partly set in the city. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has just been made into a Hollywood movie, taking more than $107m (£70m) worldwide since its release in December. Fans are already flocking to Sweden to sign up for tours of the film's key locations."
How do they advertise for it?
"Get murdered in Sweden!"
"Does your wife have a new life insurance? Welcome to Sweden"
"Get a new scar, in an unexpected place"
"Sweden - Lethally fun"
"Get it done right, in Sweden"
"Get raped in Sweden"
"Absolut, Boobs, Blondes, and Assassins"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Sheep
...Swedish Bikini Team forever afterwards. ;)
BBC reports that Sweden is allowing one citizen per week to take control of its official Twitter feed, in what's been described as 'the world's most democratic Twitter experiment.'
Democratic? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. According to Wikipedia:
Democracy in its purest or most ideal form would be a society in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.
So it's not Democratic at all unless you let everyone vote on each Twitter post, which would make it American Idol: Sweden Edition. Instead, this is more like some MTV reality show where everyone sits at home and says, "huh... so that's what the country would be like if this moron was running things... thank goodness he's not... maybe next week will be different and meaningful" every week. A little advice to all you folks in Sweden: we tried this in the U.S. already. We called it the second Bush presidency.
You could construe that this was democratic if selection was random. Its not. The people picked are chosen by the state for the characteridtics they have and how they will affect public perception.
"Sweden's" official account? I didn't even know about it until now. But they got BBC to write about it, even though there's really no news content apart from "innovative marketing approach", which probably helped increase the number of followers from 8000 to 18000 but I wonder if the extra 10000 are interested in Sweden or in how this will work (and if it's really amateurs writing) and if any of them had any trouble telling Sweden and Switzerland apart before.
Adam Arnesson, a 21-year-old organic sheep farmer
So did he twit what he does with his harvested organs? Are they used for the stem cell fresh blood car washing therapy from yesterday?
Prior Art: Doesn't London have a park where any wing-nut can stand up on a soapbox and spew nonsensical non sequiturs to a gullible crowd, who would rather be assimilated than think for themselves?
I guess that really sums up the Internet today, actually.
Democratic? Hardly. I never voted for him, and neither did any Swede. But I guess in this case, one twit is as good as the next.
"Who's been sleeping in my brain . . . ?"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I really liked this at first, in december. Then the @sweden feed was all about drinking, sex and mocking religion and norwegians. After that it went downhill, to boring (here is a picture of my dogs) to outright embarrassing. Currently it's controlled by a fucking priest citing the bible and chatting about spirituality. How un-swedish isn't that?
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
what will happen when they hand over their account to a porn star or a warez site owner?
Or let everyone get an internet connection and a computer so they can post on Slashdot?
It's not fair for those who die waiting for their turn... which is pretty much everyone alive.
Just saw the newsstory about using dolphins to detect mines by the US.
And now this.
I have enjoyed following the new Sweden account and would consider visiting after enjoying the country shared from the viewpoint of common citizens. I have never looked at a brochure from the Bahamas and found it convincing or enticing.
In my case, it's entertaining and an effective ad campaign. The Swedish tourist bureau should probably win a medal or a cookie or something for an effective campaign.
In that case I'd strongly suggest to firstly make a visit in the spring or summer - making that early spring if you're into wintersports - and secondly to visit places other than Stockholm. The capital isn't really representative of the nation as a whole and many swedes find it boorish.
Emotions! In your brain!
The Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen triangle looks interesting. I imagine that touring it would keep me busy for a week. The Aland islands look promising as well.
:)
I'll keep your advice about visiting in spring or summer as the Arctic circle passes through that area.
twitterers used twice in a sentence. Dispatching drones.
Sweden is a beautiful country from late june to early august. The rest of the year, not so much unless you plan on going skiing.
Nature-wise it pales compared to Norway though, and I say that as a swede.
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
Visit helsinki and tallinn too then, there are many cruise style trips that do dock on all or many of those places.
Make a man a fire and he will be warm for a day, set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
We'd be getting jokes about bestiality, tales of practical jokes involving other people's bicycles, lewd comments about hot people at the bar, and oddly-endearingly-angry rants about how the world would be a more peaceful place if everyone smoked pot and got laid once in a while.
Please help metamoderate.
What about giving control of the whole government to one citizen a week? Provided the citizen is chosen randomly, that could be a truly democratic government. ...
I know of some countries where this would be an incredible improvement of how the government works
Oh, Sweden has its beautiful parts, it's just that you have to go north of Dalälven to find them (which means most foreign tourists never see them because they don't come up here).
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4