Wiki Leaks

Wiki Leaks is an international non-for-profit organization which publishes secret information, news leaks and classified media from anonymous sources. It began during 2006 in Iceland and was opened by the organization sunshine press. Julian Assange who is an Australian Internet activist is generally described as its founder, editor-in-chief, and director.

The group has released a number of significant documents which have become front-page news items, early releases included documentation of equipment expenditures and holdings in the Afghanistan war and corruption in Kenya. During April 2010, Wiki Leaks published gun sight footage from the 12th July Baghdad airstrike in which Iraqi journalists were among those killed y an AH-64 Apache Helicopter.

During July of the same year Wiki Leaks released Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the war in Afghanistan.

Julian Assange is an Australian editor, activist, publisher and journalist best known for being editor-in-chief and founder of Wiki Leaks which publishes submission of secret information.

Assange was a hacker activist in his youth before becoming a computer programmer and then becoming internationally known for his work with Wiki Leaks. He has lived in several countries and has made public appearances around the world to speak about the freedom of the press, censorship and investigative journalism.

Tweeting Stephen Fry - The Graham Norton Show - BBC One

Twitter

To kick-start this blog I will be looking at the social networking site Twitter.This site allows people to 'follow' one another and allows them to post on a kind of online blog. It allows people to contact celebrities or forward (re-tweet) their tweets. You can also favourite other people's tweets which you particularly enjoyed. Twitter can also be a very efficient news source which allows you to hear breaking news from the horses mouth. For example Barack Obama announced his victory in the election via Twitter before it was officially announced.

When on Twitter I enjoy reading heated arguments between celebrities and I love the concept of being able to talk directly to celebrities. In the past celebrities have often seemed to be in a whole new dimension whereas on Twitter they are simply another user so you have this opportunity. It also gives us a preview of their private life, which previously we would see a completely different, distorted account of them via the media.

One thing that sets Twitter apart from social networking sites such as Facebook is its simplicity. In my experience, Facebook is developing into nothing more than a popularity contest, with a daily mission to get the most 'likes' on posts and photos. This element doesn't feature on Twitter so people are more tempted to be themselves when they post instead of saying something which they expect to receive the best feedback for.

After initially being a desktop internet website, Twitter's popularity soared and demand increased with it. You can now 'Tweet' via Smart-phones, tablets and select iPods. This shows that there is a vast audience for Twitter, one that has incorporated Twitter as an essential part of their daily routine. The extent of this can be seen in the photo below-