Social media makes things possible at tremendous speed.

Things are all a-flutter in Canadian federal politics. Enemy political parties have formed a historic coalition to drive a policy through and, if necessary, oust the Prime Minister. They are organizing huge events in just a few days, though they’re intended for tons of people across the country. It’s tomorrow, in fact. This feat, arguably, just wouldn’t be possible with traditional media and web 1.0 tools.

The whole crisis political situation has escalated rather quickly, so moving fast became critical.  Twitter has been sweeping up a whole other generation into political engagement.   Which is pretty exciting.

So the opposition parties registered 62percentmajority.ca as a new domain, and are calling people to tomorrow’s cross-country rallies via RSVPs on Facebook. They also offer blog badges and window signs as downloads, an online petition, and comments submissions (with, unfortunately, no number counter).

This is the first time I remember seeing a political action in which Facebook plays such a critical role. The Coalition for Change website leaps further in its commitment to social media, with a YouTube video in key placement on their homepage.

At this point 12,111 people have joined the Coalition for Change Facebook group, and over 700 people have added their comments. You don’t often see the comments of 700 Canadians about an issue, in one place. I am curious to see how much the comments will be moderated. Right now, they include interesting opinions that dig into critical thinking as well as the ‘fuck you’ / ‘no, fuck you’ / ‘you’re all idiots’ contributions.

In the few minutes it took me to finish that last paragraph and check the post, the Coalition’s group membership shot up to 12, 990. That raises my eyebrows.

It’ll be interesting to see how it has shifted tomorrow.

Excellent Rebecca Leaman post about introducing nonprofits to social networking tools, including stats about social media use like this excerpt:

Perhaps the most useful statistics on social media usage we’ve got at the moment come from two 2008 reports from Rapleaf, here and here. They’ll tell you that MySpace users are younger than those on Facebook, while LinkedIn is geared to those well started on their career path, and so on. The online world changes rapidly, however, so the picture painted by any statistical report will already be slightly out-dated by the time the numbers are crunched — you may notice that Twitter was not mentioned in the Rapleaf assessments, for example, yet that micro-blogging website is now indisputably one of the leading social media websites. Round out your research with some of the other resources from Aaron Uhrmacher’s How to Find Statistics on Social Media and the extensive Social Networking Research section at eMarketer.com

Next we’re looking for some before/after dollar figures – the return on investment for organizations getting into social media. And case studies with specific stories about positive results in social capital.

Definitely check out her Wild Apricot blog to read the rest of this post.

Thx for the lead goes to nptechblogs

A few Tweets that stand out… the first one below, and there were a number like this, tragically reminiscent of the people handing out flyers with photos of loved ones after 9-11, and then the surge in offers of help…

the last few marking the shift in where news audiences will go when they are no longer willing to get their news delayed from mainstream news outlets.

The last couple of comments, I didn’t catch the names as they sped by.

These were selected tweets, rather than a steady stream all together, but the flow of them, and truly there was about one a second with updates of news many of them on the ground in Mumbai, was astounding.

timothychughes: sorry if repetitive but we are desperate for news of an Italian national woman with an infant in the Oberoi / Trident. Anyone? #mumbai
in Sydney

remambian: #Help_Mumbai #Mumbai -call 922222 1947 and tell them you want to donate blood.They’ll get back to you when someone needs it.
3 minutes ago

xSerenityx: I have never appreciated Twitter in the quite the way I have during these attacks. Thank you all. #mumbai
in Oregon

joycecom: @primaveron totally awesome reports. I am spreading word of you worldwide! #mumbai 381 updates in 11 hours! THAT MY PALS IS NEWS!
In California

Primaveron
In Mumbai

We are all media now

How powerful 14-characters can be

I haven’t come across Spy before, but it’s a rapid way of scanning the latest topic-specific Twitters about situations changing moment-to-moment – like today’s news in Mumbai

Here’s how Spy bills itself: “spy can listen in on the social media conversations you’re interested in. What do you want to listen for?”

For anyone who wants the most current news, in English, about a situation like Mumbai, ‘Spy’ is faster than English news sites, and less of a hassle then repeatedly entering a Twitter search for Mumbai. You just go to the Spy site, and your screen scrolls with automatic updates of the latest Twitters on your topic.

It reminds me of the old newsrooms – when a big news event happened you’d hear it first, because the news would start pounding in on the ‘wires’, all the machines coming to life with that sudden cacophony of non-stop dot-matrix printers.

Spy isn’t perfect – the scrolling updates include searches – but it’s still a much faster way of getting the news than waiting hours for the translated news to end up on BBC, CBC or CNN.

But even the leading journalists are going here for their news. This Twitter rolled by as I last checked Spy for Mumbai news:

@steverubel NYT looking to collaborate on #Mumbai. Twitter impt: http://tinyurl.com/6pp3ze

In the comments section of this New York Times blog, even an LA Times writer comments on the novelty of the New York Times soliciting first-hand news reports. Another commenter writes how behind NYT is, asking for updates via blog, while CNN shows credited FlickR photos and Twitters.

For the history of Mumbai and reports on Twitter you can view Tweetip on Mumbai

Spy also just scrolled a Twitter post (by bluerogue) that Amy Gahran has just blogged ‘Following Mumbai Attacks via Social Media‘

Mumbai sure demonstrates the difference speed via Twitter can make where it really counts, with a feed about an urgent and immediate need for blood donation at hospitals:

RT @blogbooktours: RT @BreakingNewz blood needed- JJ Hospital +91 22 23739031 and St George’s Hospital +91 22 22620240 #mumbai

Update:

Besides Spy, another useful way of tracking very fast-moving news is with perspctv. It shows three columns, on the topic/terms you choose: Recent Tweets, Recent Blog Posts, and Recent News. All three columns scroll auto-updates, so it’s a pretty interesting way of comparing how news coverage moves on very fast-moving issues. I like it for the comparison, though it’s not as easy to read and follow.

An interesting unrelated sidenote, I like how this shows globalization. On Spy, I saw a Twitter feed roll by that mentioned perspctv. That Tweet was by a fellow from Norway, currently in Melbourne Australia. He tips people on where to get coverage about Mumbai India, and I’m reading about it in Vancouver Canada. Cool.

Update:

Wired article, Mumbai Attack Aftermath, Tweet by Tweet