#Twettle: Toronto Police bring the Kettle to Twitter
It all started with the 4 tweets below.
You'll note that @canice didn't actually RT @officervella.
Ok, to be clear, I wasn't looking to mock or willfully deceive @officervella. I'd just called him a bully in the last tweet so I figured he'd read that and understand I was making a joke (Kettle + twitter = Twettle). I was wrong. Thus Twettle was born.
Various #twettle-related responses to and from @OfficerVella.
As I was in the Queen and Spadina #g20 kettle I have to say this was my favourite #twettle tweet.
This tweet from Constable Scott Mills (the Toronto Police social media Relations Officer) sounds very similar to the kinds of responses many were hearing on the Sunday of the G20 weekend (including what I heard when I tried talking some sense into the riot police surrounding us at Queen and Spadina). Police complained that they were targets of far worse abuse (eg. spitting, abusive language, etc.) than what the demonstrators had endured. The "he/she started it" argument is a popular tactic on children's playgrounds but is quite frightening when employed by anyone armed or wearing riot gear.
I don't know what "social alchemy" is but I think it's supposed to involve turning a frowns upside down - not into sneers.
The Torontoist summary of what happened is here.
(top image credit: http://twitter.com/markdelete)
