Every day there are too many interesting studies and stories and cases to write about here. I've been sending a lot of them out without comment in Deliberations' "In The News" section, but lately I've been experimenting with sending the best ones out on Twitter.
You know Twitter. It's the free "microblog" site where millions of people talk to each other in "tweets" of 140 characters or less. It's not for everyone (the three posts linked to in those three words caused a stir this week), but it's a unique way to communicate. And I have a professional interest in knowing how social networks operate, or so I tell myself. Anyway, I'm trying it out.
A day of tweets
So in the last day or so, for example, if you'd followed "@annereed" (that's me) on Twitter, you'd have seen these entries, featuring the "short URL" links that we all use on Twitter:
Relationship of emotion and "rational deliberation" in death penalty cases, http://twurl.nl/unakty RT [that's "retweet" in Twitter talk, the equivalent of "forward"] @bobambrogi: Should jurors in Halloween costumes and free candy from lawyers be cause for reversal of verdict? http://tinyurl.com/6gkcot "I'll tell you what, we didn't think we'd be living to see him come home": mother of innocent man freed after 27 yrs http://twurl.nl/ktgpj4 RT @HouCrimLaw [that's Mark Bennett]: New blog entry: I Want Angry Jurors With Low Self-Esteem http://tinyurl.com/694ljg; review of article in ASTC's new TJE mag. People (jurors) predict they'll behave better than they do, but there's a way to help them be more realistic. http://twurl.nl/unmi2g "Sleep helps people learn complicated tasks." http://twurl.nl/0sg0hw. Not that I'd know that personally. But it's relevant to tired jurors. "The viciousness that comes out in this is stunning," says Lori Drew's lawyer of jury questionnaire responses. http://snipr.com/5u5x0
You might also have seen Colin Samuels (his blog is Infamy or Praise) commemorating the 145th anniversary of the Gettysburg address by trying to render it in 140 characters, and Mark Bennett's thoughts on mercy, beautifully expressed in a short series of "tweets" starting here.
If you're on Twitter now, you can follow Deliberations here. If you'd like to dip a toe in, Twitter has a good FAQ here to get you started. One tip: if you find that you like Twitter, run don't walk to www.Tweetdeck.com, to download a "desktop client" that makes Twitter's features much easier to use. You may not stay forever -- I may not either -- but you have a professional interest in seeing how social networking sites operate too, and there's a lot going on out there.
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Are you using Twitter? Or other social networks? What do you think?
Related posts here: A Trial Lawyer's Guide To Social Networking Sites
(Cartoon by Geek & Poke, Oliver Widder, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekandpoke/2159020334; license details there.)
