Tweets from parliament seats

We’ve seen several web-based initiatives aimed at engaging the politically alienated, including theyworkforyou.com’s video tagging. Now, tapping into Twitter—the communication platform du jour—Tweetminster has created a ‘place where real life and politics tweet’. The website and public service provides real-time updates of life in British politics. Tweetminster lets users track their favourite MPs, read politicians’ and lobbyists’ speeches as they’re spoken, and find out the hottest topics of political debate from various MPs’ blogs. Launched late last year, Tweetminster currently has a roster of 18 MPs from all over Britain, 60% of whom are members of the Labour party. Each politician has a personal page that displays their followers and lists their most recent 140-character missives, as well as a tagcloud of the words they use most often. There’s also a section for prospective parliamentary candidates, letting them introduce themselves and their campaigns to the internet community. UnLtdWorld, an online platform for social entrepreneurs, teamed up with Thin Martian, a creative digital agency, to move the concept from brainwave to launch state in 48 hours. (UnLtdWorld and Thin Martian also collaborated on a Shoreditch tricycle race we wrote about.) Inspiration came in part after stumbling upon Tweet Congress, an American site that chronicles the twittering activities of congressmen and congresswomen. Both sites aim to make politicians and political culture more accessible, thereby encouraging greater participation in debate. Services such as Twitter are making it easier for consumers to establish an immediate, real-time dialogue with previously distant entities. And they provide organisations with yet another opportunity to turn transparency tyranny into transparency triumph. Spotted by: Alice Pilias