[/floatl]Yomiuri: Millions drawn to 'tweeting' - Crucial to confirm authorship as even politicians use Twitter service
Twitter, a free microblogging service that lets users send and read "tweets"--messages up to 140 characters long--around the world, is quickly becoming popular in Japan. Some people, however, are using the system under false names, and the question of how to confirm authorship has become a crucial issue...Tweets posted Dec. 25 on an account titled "nihonwokaeyou" (Let's change Japan!) drew much attention. Posted with a mug shot of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, they included such messages as, "This is Hatoyama. I've begun using Twitter," and "I'm going to attend a press conference now"...But these tweets were all false, posted by someone else using Hatoyama's name...An official at the Cabinet Office said, "There would've been no way to undo the damage if outrageous messages regarding such political issues as the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station had been posted"...Toru Takeda, a freelance journalist familiar with Twitter, [says] "Twitter should be managed and used more cautiously. At the same time, we must work out a system to trace malicious impostors"...more...
Another for the newspaper graphic hall of fame.
