I have recently mentioned on my twitter feed my love for the current HBO series ‘The Pacific’. I find WW2 particularly interesting, such extraordinary times; so I try to learn as much as I can. It was after I posted under the #pacific tag that I discovered a tweet about the site ‘Letters from World War II’, a brilliant example of past and present combining to create a fascinating resource.

If anybody out there still believes social media is a passing fad to be ignored: see below. I particularly like the stat that generation Y and X now consider email passé.

I have seen many examples of social networking being done incorrectly, well perhaps incorrectly is the wrong term. Social networking is nothing new; we’ve been doing it for years. I’ve read countless blogs that describe it like being at a party: You don’t stand there shouting about things you sell and how great you are. If you were to do this, you’d be alienated pretty quickly (that and a healthy dose or Alka-seltzer and water. A particular reader will understand that one!). I wanted to share with you an example of what I think is good social networking. This case study comes from a live band from the Coventry area.

I was watching TV last night and came in half way through a documentary about people with Tourettes syndrome, the apatly named Tourettes: I swear I can't help it. From the start I was transfixed, I have never really understood this neurological condition but recent shows, Shameless for example, have made me wonder about it. The show followed two people, a young lad, Greg Storey, who was diagnosed in 2002 and John Davidson, a gentleman in his late 30s/early 40s. He was diagnosed in 1988. Their teenage years could not have been different; John was an outcast, at home and at school. Ignorance of his condition was rife in the 1980s so he was bullied continuously and received no support from his family, especially his AWFUL mother.

Greg’s Tourettes came on suddenly at the age 7 and as a consequence, his early Tourettes experience must have seemed very scary. For a while he would simply collapse and be unable to move and only communicate through blinking. With the support of his friends and family (incidentally, his mother looked like she had come straight from the 1980s) he is coping with the cards he’s being dealt and should be cited as an example to us all. Especially when you hear his story about the best day of his life, it was sunny and he only had one tick during the whole day.

This program is only up for six more days and I cannot recommend it enough. http://bbc.co.uk/i/ksj56/

Recently I found myself explaining to my boss the pros of Twitter. She doesn’t subscribe to blogs or social media and I saw that I was not winning her over. However, I did reaffirm to myself why I love Twitter. There is no bull shit. I mean there would be if you were following someone like Katie Price. But for me, all I care about is clear, USEFUL information.