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News Industry on Twitter: Full of Crazies, Not Reliable

By Timothy M. O'Brien
April 28, 2009

There's a Twitter "backlash" at the moment as news organizations like CNN start to react to the way people are communicating about the Swine Flu on Twitter. What is behind this reaction, and is it valid? Is Twitter a "petri dish" for hysteria and insanity? Or, is it a useful tool for the distirbution of public health information?

Update on Twitter Awareness Metrics of Swine Flu

By Timothy M. O'Brien
April 27, 2009

A quick update on the Twitter Awareness numbers for the Swine Flu. As of Monday @ 1:57 PM. Swine flu accounted for 2.68% of all Twitter activity, and the @CDCemergency Twitter account continued to experience rapid growth posting a 300% growth over the last two days. In addition to these trends, there have emerged unofficial Swine squatters, do these additional sources of information help or hurt the official effort to distribute public health information?

Personal Genome Project Expanding the Personal Gene Pool from 10 to 100,000

By Timothy M. O'Brien
April 26, 2009

The Personal Gemone Project is evolving from a small pilot of ten to a massive collection of 100,000 public medical histories and DNA sequences. Find out how you can register to participate in an experiment that will lay the necessary foundation for a complete understanding of how one's genetic sequence affects health and disease.

Tracking and Graphing Awareness of Swine Flu with Twitter

By Timothy M. O'Brien
April 26, 2009

As the Swine Flu story develops, Twitter is an invaluable, open-platform for gathering data and graphing trends of awareness. As the CDC investigation into this emerging virus uncovered more cases in CA, KS, TX, @CDCemergency experienced a rapid +85% jump in followers as Twitter became a conduit for critical public health information. While the government tries to get the word out about prevention stragies and instructions for care for the sick, services like Twist and Twitterholic can be used to measure the impact and reach of these public health messages.

Twittering the Swine Flu (Follow @CDCemergency)

By Timothy M. O'Brien
April 25, 2009

The Centers for Disease Control and the Red Cross are using Twitter to get the word out about Swine Flu. Can something as simple as Twitter make a difference when fighting a potential influenza pandemic?

O'Reilly Week in Review for February 23rd, 2009

By James Turner
February 25, 2009

This week, the O'Reilly editors discuss how the new stimulus package may effect the alternative energy industry, we hear an excerpt of an interview with virologist Dr. Nathan Wolfe, and get a new patent-related podquiz question to puzzle over....

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