The NSW Police are not @nswpolice but claim to be non-existent @NSW_Police

It does get complicated online, doesn't it?

NSW Police Public Affairs Director Strath Gordon says he is unsure whether the person is a police officer, or a member of the community simply interested in police affairs. "We're obviously seeking to get into that space, and we're talking to Twitter about their impersonation policy," he said. Police have started "twittering" under their own alternative name - "@NSW_Police" - but Mr Gordon says he is concerned that users are more likely to trust tweets from the unofficial account due to its name.

Shame. I was enjoying @nswpolice, too. But when I search for @NSW_Police I find... only the apparent fake. Is the press release ahead of reality?

Technology and uptake is not just about the young #demographics

It really should be put to rest, this idea that the younger you are the more adaptable, motivated and interested you are in today's technology. It's assumed that new tech uptake is aligned (magically) with your label: ie Baby boomers vs Gen X or Y or even Next; when these are really just vaguely useful pop culture demographic labels with little or no correlation with anything, other than age and raw number.

Take this for example: Radwanick concluded that current assumptions about who might use a technology first might need to be reconsidered. “Not only teenagers and college students can be counted among the technologically inclined,” she said. “With those age 25 and older representing a much bigger segment of the population than the under 25 crowd, it might help explain why Twitter has expanded its reach so broadly so quickly over the past few months.”

Rather than assume that the young will drive new tech uptake, look instead at the real drivers (and/or impediments to uptake) like access, need, wealth, depth of responsibilities and available time. These things can occur at almost any age, and to varying degrees - but we can generalise a bit about who typically has a need for a short-message, quick contact microblogging service; who has the time, or lack of time to use it; and who has the connectivity and hardware platforms to make it happen. And who's mature enough to appreciate it, too.

Quick and dirty assumptions don't always stack up.

Short and simple guide to using PHP with Twitter's RESTful API

From IBM's DeveloperWorks (hey, my day job is with IBM but nothing to do with DW), a simple and concise article on Twitter's API and how to tap into the stream using PHP and the Twitter API.