This political revolution has been brought to you by Twitter

Warning: The following blog post references language that may be disturbing to some readers. If you are the sensitive type, better not click any of the following links. (Remember, I warned ya.)

This past weekend saw something we had not seen before on Twitter. Someone started an angry trending topic? True, but that is not new. People everywhere started cursing in a big simultaneous attack of Tourette’s? Yes, but that is not it either.

[ Also on InfoWorld.com: This is not the first time Twitter and politics has come together, as Cringely details in "Fox News' Twitter account hacked, Obama's just fine." | For a humorous take on the tech industry's shenanigans, subscribe to Robert X. Cringely's Notes from the Underground newsletter and follow Cringely on Twitter.

Somebody tried to overthrow our government? Yes — in word, if not in deed. And while he obviously did not succeed, he did open the lid on a bubbling caldron of frustration that has real political potential.

Jeff Jarvis, one of the most successful bloviator/bloggers on the Net, rolled a Twitter snowball down a hill that turned into an avalanche. He started by ranting about the debt ceiling farce that has consumed much of our summer, which then turned into a crude hashtag I can’t repeat in this space, but which involves our nation’s capital and a violent act of love.

That easy crude sentiment apparently struck a chord. The FYW tweet storm so completely dominated Twitter traffic that Jarvis states Twitter temporary shut down his account for tweeting too much. And though it never showed up as an official trending topic — because Twitter monitors those for potty language — that hashtag completely overwhelmed worldwide twitter statistics, per Trendsmap.

Even Anonymous chimed in with support for Jarvis, if that tells you anything.

This easy bleet of frustration has now become blended with calls for a third, centrist, Internet-based political party, which in a nice bit of fortuitous timing was the topic of a New York Times column by Thomas Friedman that very day.

source : www.infoworld.com

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Submited at Monday, July 25th, 2011 at 6:00 pm on News by steve
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