Two Minutes of Silence on Twitter
November 6th, 2009Posted by: J.W. Crump Posted in Blogs
The Royal British Legion is trying to appeal to the young generation (nicknamed the “Afghanistan Generation”) this year by promoting their Remembrance Day poppy campaign through social networks such as Twitter. With a hefty donation goal of £31.5 million, the Legion hopes that by reaching out online they will be able to target the younger demographic.
They also have an iPhone poppy application, an online social hub (http://legionlive.org.uk/), and heavily encourage soldiers to use Twitter to stay in touch with their loved ones.
The Two Minutes of Silence is a way for people to wear a ‘virtual poppy’. On November 11, at 11AM, the Legion asks users to refrain from tweeting for two solid minutes. It’s an interesting approach to the campaign, similar to the Earth Day campaign to go without electricity for an hour. They are hoping that people will help spread the word beforehand with the simple #2minutesilence hashtag. I certainly bet that two minutes of no activity on Twitter would be noticeable.
Another timely way Twitter is used to inform the masses is by simple one-shot accounts aimed at specific news items. Statesman.com created a Twitter account to follow the tragic Foot Hood shooting that occurred recently. They also created a list to capture all the national attention the shootings were garnering. This kept families and loved ones informed of what was happening with hourly information and up-to-date news.
Personally, I think it’s wonderful to see these two recent examples of Twitter used to have a positive impact and keep people informed of important issues. It bolsters my opinion of the platform quite a bit after realizing last week that the most followed and listed people were nearly all celebrities.
