Alberto Nardelli’s Tweetminster has been in the news a lot recently. In July, the company launched its brilliant Livewire service in partnership with the Independent newspaper, and a week ago we reported that the start-up had secured £100k in Angel investment. Not bad going for a company less than nine months old.
Now, Tweetminster has launched a crowdsourcing campaign to find “ten commandments” for UK MPs, amid growing public dissatisfaction with elected representatives and in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal. The ten commandments “will define a set of standards our elected representatives should adhere to in public life”. MPs are invited to participate in the campaign themselves.
This is one campaign for which crowdsourcing is evidently the right approach. All you have to do is send a public tweet to @tweetminster with your suggested commandment. It should be something that reflects “the principles and values that you want to see embraced across all parties”. Tweetminster will then create a shortlist of the most popular ideas, to be voted on at Tweetminster.co.uk. When a list of ten has been selected, it will be presented to MPs and PPCs (prospective parliamentary candidates).
“Over the next few months and into 2010, beyond the General Election, we will monitor the impact of these 10 Commandments on public life to see if the actions of MPs live up to the standards that have been set. Our goal is to make a small contribution to making politics more open and accessible, and help the UK achieve a healthier democracy.”