“If your economy is toast, you may as well have some cheese on it.”

Luke Ireland, Marketing, More, Social Media Ireland, Marketing, More, Social Media 0 Comment

The free cheese story of last Friday set Twitter alight with many excellent cheese related puns. It’s another example of the lack of understanding of how the country feels by the Government. Not only is the county about to teeter over the brink, thanks to the Governments insistence on bailing out corrupt banks full of cronies, developers and Fianna Fail mates, so much so that every man woman and child here is going to be up to their necks in debt for many years to come.

Yet Fianna Fail (FF) treated the free cheese story like it was the good news story to beat all good news stories. It’s one of the most bizarre stories to make a song and dance about especially since its not news, but a scheme that’s been in operation for years.

While this is/was a political story, it also gives an idea of how Twitter works as a communications platform. Twitter is great at is bringing people together to talk about matters that affect us. Be it #Cheesegate, #Freecheese, #Xfactor, sports events, TV shows or whatever your having yourself. Twitter acts as a platform for hundreds or thousands of people to come together and discuss what is happening, in real time. It removes the barrier of location, and unlike Facebook you can start a discussion with just about anybody on it. I would imagine that of my almost 400 followers on Twitter most I have never met before, some I have met since we started following but the vast majority I will probably never meet. But these anonymous links to people and organisations provide me with an incredible amount of information, news, views, insights, topics and entertainment. A day without Twitter and sometimes you don’t feel like you know whats going on in the world.

For more on Twitter Marketing check out a couple of posts I wrote on the Neworld Blog (link and link) which give practical examples of how 140 characters can be used as a powerful marketing tool.

But for now here’s the Top cheese related Tweets from the last few days;

Ireland: There is Philadelphia Light at the end of the tunnel - @HybridVigour

Cheese release me, let me go

Apparently it’s quantative cheesing – both @SeanMoncrieff

The Irish Economy: Things Can Only Get Feta -  @kevnmur

This #freecheese thing doesn’t seem like a modern idea, more like something fromages past – @AllanCavanagh

Things Can Only Get Cheddar #freecheese - johnmadden78

It’s un-brie-lievable - @PaddyDuffy

Gov’s bold initiative.. Quantitative Cheesing.. Edammed if we do, edammed if we don’t! - @lstwrd

For the love of Gouda – @flowersmadeeasy

Letter in the_irish_times today: “Free cheese for Ireland! From the very people who rennet into the ground in the first place.”  - @KimHarte

Most listeners feeling Blue about #cheesegate, it really gets their Goat, things couldn’t Brie any worse. – @LauraByrneTdfm

#freecheese best things in life are brie! - @lisaocarroll

Hello… Is it Brie you’re looking for? #freecheese @blogtackular

Fianna Fail meetng, Dermot Ahern pipes up, the only thing that can win Donegal for us is Jesus, Cowen mishears now - @cooper_m

I’m furious! Brian Cowen thinks he can spend all my tax money on cheese. How dairy? – @phildargen

Government has finally shown it does give edam- @SeanRocksARENA

I thought we were looking at 4 years of Hard Grind not Hard Rind – @boucherhayes

RTE Xmas movies: The Gouda Father, Goodfetas, Das Brie, From Riccotta with Love – @gooneradam

#freecheese just in time for Christmas so we can celebrate the baby cheeses…. –  @phildargan

Jules Carbonara

“Let them eat cheesecake!” ~ The Laughing Cowen – @julescarbonara

One of my producers says he camembert this anymore. He says the country is between a roquefort and a hard place - @cooper_m