The Garret Tree
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The pre-Twitter tweets from The Economist
It has been said so many times, "it came before its time."
More than a quarter century ago, the staid old Economist invented Tweeting. Of course, only a handful of people noticed (and I'm sure The Economist has forgotten all about it).
By the way, I have just joined Twitter and you can follow me (if you care) at rowlandr.
Back in 1981, I was working in London, at the Universal News Services PR wire and using Britain's fledgling Prestel videotex service. The Economist was also one of Prestel's clients.
In this early form of new media, you had a keyboard attached to a TV screen, which was wired through the phone system to a mainframe computer somewhere in an early version of cyberspace.
It was also expensive. You were not only paying for the phone line (at per minute rates) but in most cases (unless Prestel waived the charges) a per page fee as well. (So it never really got anywhere, a warning to those revisionist columnists who think the media should have started charging for access in the early days of the web).
The best way to get the news across was in short briefs. Not everyone did that, but The Economist did. If you wanted to print out a page, it came out on silvered, heat sensitive paper, with the type appearing only slightly darker silver. Hard to read, old chap.
And why do I remember all this? One story in the summer of 1981, reminded me of my home in "the colonies." It went something like this
Ha ha ha. Yes there was a strike at the CBC at that time, And yes Canada Post was going through his infamous period of labour unrest.
The other stories were just like that. They were "tweets."
If they only knew what they started.........
Of course, The Economist is back at it. Twitter name The Economist and as of this moment there are 10,195 followers.
Technorati tags
writing, journalism, Twitter, Economist, videotex, Prestel,
10:01 PM posted by Robin Rowland
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It has been said so many times, "it came before its time."
More than a quarter century ago, the staid old Economist invented Tweeting. Of course, only a handful of people noticed (and I'm sure The Economist has forgotten all about it).
By the way, I have just joined Twitter and you can follow me (if you care) at rowlandr.
Back in 1981, I was working in London, at the Universal News Services PR wire and using Britain's fledgling Prestel videotex service. The Economist was also one of Prestel's clients.
In this early form of new media, you had a keyboard attached to a TV screen, which was wired through the phone system to a mainframe computer somewhere in an early version of cyberspace.
It was also expensive. You were not only paying for the phone line (at per minute rates) but in most cases (unless Prestel waived the charges) a per page fee as well. (So it never really got anywhere, a warning to those revisionist columnists who think the media should have started charging for access in the early days of the web).
The best way to get the news across was in short briefs. Not everyone did that, but The Economist did. If you wanted to print out a page, it came out on silvered, heat sensitive paper, with the type appearing only slightly darker silver. Hard to read, old chap.
And why do I remember all this? One story in the summer of 1981, reminded me of my home in "the colonies." It went something like this
There's good news and bad news from Canada. The good news is that the television network is on strike. The bad news is that the post office is on strike.(I make that 130 characters)
Ha ha ha. Yes there was a strike at the CBC at that time, And yes Canada Post was going through his infamous period of labour unrest.
The other stories were just like that. They were "tweets."
If they only knew what they started.........
Of course, The Economist is back at it. Twitter name The Economist and as of this moment there are 10,195 followers.
Technorati tags
writing, journalism, Twitter, Economist, videotex, Prestel,
Labels: CBC, Economist, London, Prestel, tweet, Twitter, videotex, writing
10:01 PM posted by Robin Rowland
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