#TCOT Second Most Used Tag in 2009, #SGP and #TLOT Make Top Ten Also

By Duane Lester - January 3, 2010 - 28 Comments -

The Twitter hashtag #tcot, which stands for “Top Conservatives On Twitter,” was the second most used hashtag on Twitter in 2009:

2. Tags Influencers Talked About

-#followfriday
-#tcot
-#HHRS
-#quote
-#p2
-#FAIL
-#GNO
-#sgp
-#tlot
-#teaparty

As you can see from the list, #sgp, #tlot and #teaparty also made the top ten. I personally think the right wing has adopted Twitter better than the left.

What do you think?

Oh, and if you are not on Twitter yet or don’t get it and don’t know how to get started, read my guide “Why Conservatives Should Be Using Twitter and 200 People You Should Be Following.”I

[354]

http://americankiser.blogspot.com/ Brandon Kiser

One word: WIN.

Conservatives have rallied behind #tcot for most of the time I’ve been on Twitter and even established other hash-tags like #tycot #sgp #tlot #ocra #teaparty and more. Despite the split that inherently happens between multiple, similar hash-tags, conservatives broke the list FOUR times. That’s unreal.

Liberals have just now started effectively utilizing #p2… and that was for wishing Rush Limbaugh dead.

This may seem presumptuous, but Twitter is OURS.
.-= Brandon Kiser´s last blog ..MIchael Barone Gets It Right. The Public Sector Chokes the Private Sector =-.
http://americankiser.blogspot.com/ Brandon Kiser

One word: WIN.

Conservatives have rallied behind #tcot for most of the time I’ve been on Twitter and even established other hash-tags like #tycot #sgp #tlot #ocra #teaparty and more. Despite the split that inherently happens between multiple, similar hash-tags, conservatives broke the list FOUR times. That’s unreal.

Liberals have just now started effectively utilizing #p2… and that was for wishing Rush Limbaugh dead.

This may seem presumptuous, but Twitter is OURS.
.-= Brandon Kiser´s last blog ..MIchael Barone Gets It Right. The Public Sector Chokes the Private Sector =-.
http://www.allamericanblogger.com Duane Lester

Agreed.

Conservatives have really utilized Twitter. Let’s not forget the #dontgo movement either. That was a groundbreaking use of Twitter by the right.

I’m not familiar with #ocra, other than eating it. What’s that about?
.-= Duane Lester´s last blog ..#TCOT Second Most Used Tag in 2009, #SGP and #TLOT Make Top Ten Also =-.
http://www.allamericanblogger.com Duane Lester

Agreed.

Conservatives have really utilized Twitter. Let’s not forget the #dontgo movement either. That was a groundbreaking use of Twitter by the right.

I’m not familiar with #ocra, other than eating it. What’s that about?
.-= Duane Lester´s last blog ..#TCOT Second Most Used Tag in 2009, #SGP and #TLOT Make Top Ten Also =-.
http://americankiser.blogspot.com/ Brandon Kiser

Interestingly enough, the #dontgo movement transformed into one of the leading organizations during the TaxDayTeaParty.

#ocra stands for “Organized Conservatives Re-Take America.” It’s a little more arcane, but is mostly used with #tcot among fewer people to more easily communicate with that set of conservatives. That’s happening more and more with the creation of #sgp #tycot and some other tags.
.-= Brandon Kiser´s last blog ..MIchael Barone Gets It Right. The Public Sector Chokes the Private Sector =-.
http://americankiser.blogspot.com/ Brandon Kiser

Interestingly enough, the #dontgo movement transformed into one of the leading organizations during the TaxDayTeaParty.

#ocra stands for “Organized Conservatives Re-Take America.” It’s a little more arcane, but is mostly used with #tcot among fewer people to more easily communicate with that set of conservatives. That’s happening more and more with the creation of #sgp #tycot and some other tags.
.-= Brandon Kiser´s last blog ..MIchael Barone Gets It Right. The Public Sector Chokes the Private Sector =-.
http://www.tomllewis.com tomllewis

Duane, what does #p2 stand for?
.-= tomllewis´s last blog ..Anthropogenic climate change skeptics are just like Galileo’s Church was on the Settled Science of 1610 =-.
http://www.tomllewis.com tomllewis

Duane, what does #p2 stand for?
.-= tomllewis´s last blog ..Anthropogenic climate change skeptics are just like Galileo’s Church was on the Settled Science of 1610 =-.
GRIM

what’s tycot? I’ll have to start using them more often.
GRIM

what’s tycot? I’ll have to start using them more often.
http://americankiser.blogspot.com/ Brandon Kiser

#tycot stands for “Top Young Conservatives on Twitter”.

We also use #cyp (Conservative Youth Project) for members of that group (and others.) This is the website: http://thecyp.ning.com/
http://americankiser.blogspot.com/ Brandon Kiser

#tycot stands for “Top Young Conservatives on Twitter”.

We also use #cyp (Conservative Youth Project) for members of that group (and others.) This is the website: http://thecyp.ning.com/
http://blog.stixblog.com Stix

Yes the conservatives have won the battle on Twitter. And #TCOT was the instigator. Then #SGP and the rest soon followed.
No to get the Twitterverse to equal wins in the elections.

#ocra was a hashtag used to try to get away from all the trolls on #tcot.

Yes what is #tycot or is that top young conservatives on twitter

Definitely #tcot and the rest helped me find many good people out there and make some good relationships
.-= Stix´s last blog ..73 Wire =-.
http://blog.stixblog.com Stix

Yes the conservatives have won the battle on Twitter. And #TCOT was the instigator. Then #SGP and the rest soon followed.
No to get the Twitterverse to equal wins in the elections.

#ocra was a hashtag used to try to get away from all the trolls on #tcot.

Yes what is #tycot or is that top young conservatives on twitter

Definitely #tcot and the rest helped me find many good people out there and make some good relationships
.-= Stix´s last blog ..73 Wire =-.
http://blog.stixblog.com Stix

Oh and yes I think #dontgo was what really got it started. Can not forget about that. I think that was really the start of the Tea Party movement.
http://blog.stixblog.com Stix

Oh and yes I think #dontgo was what really got it started. Can not forget about that. I think that was really the start of the Tea Party movement.
GRIM

Thanks for the info. I’ll need a little time to know all the acronyms for Twitter, but I’m sure I’ll get it down if I start using it more. I just signed up for the conservative youth project.
GRIM

Thanks for the info. I’ll need a little time to know all the acronyms for Twitter, but I’m sure I’ll get it down if I start using it more. I just signed up for the conservative youth project.
http://www.allamericanblogger.com Duane Lester

Tom,

#p2 is a liberal hashtag. Stands for “progressives 2.0.”
http://www.allamericanblogger.com Duane Lester

Tom,

#p2 is a liberal hashtag. Stands for “progressives 2.0.”
http://www.tomllewis.com tomllewis

Thanks Duane. I should start using #p0 for “progressives 0.0″
.-= tomllewis´s last blog ..Anthropogenic climate change skeptics are just like Galileo’s Church was on the Settled Science of 1610 =-.
http://www.tomllewis.com tomllewis

Thanks Duane. I should start using #p0 for “progressives 0.0″
.-= tomllewis´s last blog ..Anthropogenic climate change skeptics are just like Galileo’s Church was on the Settled Science of 1610 =-.
http://blog.stixblog.com Stix

The sad thing is that most people do not know the real story of Gallileo He was not prosecuted for saying the Earth was not the center of the Solar System,. He was charged with being a arrogant ass that said that this proves the Church was wrong.

He and the Pope were friends and the Pope at the time was also a scientist. And the Pope believed the Sun was the center of the Solar System. But did not want to tell then whole world until it was proven more thoroughly.

He was not prosecuted or in trouble for the science, he was in trouble for being a horse’s ass and making fun of the Pope and the Church in plays that he written.
.-= Stix´s last blog ..Nate Beeler =-.
http://blog.stixblog.com Stix

The sad thing is that most people do not know the real story of Gallileo He was not prosecuted for saying the Earth was not the center of the Solar System,. He was charged with being a arrogant ass that said that this proves the Church was wrong.

He and the Pope were friends and the Pope at the time was also a scientist. And the Pope believed the Sun was the center of the Solar System. But did not want to tell then whole world until it was proven more thoroughly.

He was not prosecuted or in trouble for the science, he was in trouble for being a horse’s ass and making fun of the Pope and the Church in plays that he written.
.-= Stix´s last blog ..Nate Beeler =-.
http://twitter.com/jubephd/statuses/7412199944 jubephd (jubephd)

http://tinyurl.com/ybkflrr
#TCOT Second Most Used Tag in 2009, #SGP and #TLOT Make Top Ten Also
http://3circles.org/journal Leroy Grey

I agree with your choices, based simply on my experience. How does Twitter get off posting this list of “top” hashtags for 2009:

1. #musicmonday
2. #iranelection
3. #sxsw
4. #swineflu
5. #nevertrust
6. #mm
7. #rememberwhen
8. #3drunkwords
9. #unacceptable
10. #iwish

It didn’t make sense given how many people use #FF or #tcot. And #3drunkwords??

Here’s my comment to the article on Mashable (http://is.gd/6tqt3): “This list is NOT even close to the truth. The first clue was #3drunkwords as the number 8 top searched hashtag… yeah right! Just a quick comparison check on one of my favorite hashtags, #tcot (Top Conservatives On Twitter) yields the following stats: 8-10 #tcot tweets PER MINUTE VS. 1 tweet EVERY THREE HOURS on #3drunkwords (I’m being generous here, if I averaged this hashtags tweets it would be far fewer tweets).”

But there is a far more worrisome issue then just Twitter’s bias towards #3drunkwords as an important hashtag.

I’m in the process of compiling some stats on whether or not Twitter is actively curtailing the free speech of conservatives. Since I started discussing this with other #tcot I’ve noticed there are a LOT of us and most people are unaware that what they tweet can’t even be found under the hashtags they’ve included in their tweets.

Twitter tells everyone they filter out anyone who fails to provide “quality” or who they feel “degraded twitter search”. What are their criteria?? No one knows. The problem is that unlike Google, who built the required infrastructure to store all searches in their archives, Twitter has chosen to delete those search results… but only for SOME people.

I haven’t finished creating a large enough sampling but a random sampling of 14 liberals, using Twitter’s own search suggestion (from:username) I found only 1 of those 14 have zero results. With everyone else you get all their tweets going back about 7 days (this appears to be the cut-off for archiving, after that tweets are deleted I assume, since they can’t be found). So, 7% of liberals got their tweets deleted from the database (not from their own twitter username site, but those tweets are not searchable by anyone in the entire Twitter universe.

How many conservatives? Well, I know a lot more conservatives so my initial sampling was larger, a total of 25. Fifteen had their tweets intact and searchable, but for ten Conservatives (that’s 10 out of 25!) my search for their tweets yielded ZERO results! That’s 40% of Conservatives are being denied their free speech rights, intentionally or unintentionally!

Again, there may not be any malice on Twitter’s part. It may be as simple as Conservatives are smarter at creating hashtags and using them with gusto, therefore they are taking up a disproportionate amount of hard drive/server space and being penalized for it. But I believe that Twitter, as a publicly accessible database has a moral obligation to treat the tweets of conservatives and liberals the same and no one should be peanlized for Twitter’s inability to scale up their operation to meet the demand on their servers. If they can’t do that, then someone with a better microblogging service should come along and put them out of business.

SocialOomph.com (formerly TweetLater) was hit hard by the unilateral, across the board ban by Twitter on recurring tweets (which was one of their best selling points for their service). I can understand wanting to stop continuous recurring tweets by online scammers, but an across the board cessation of recurring tweets means that Conservatives tweeting about healthcare are being dramatically slowed in their ability to get the truth out about the government’s real intentions for a public option… total control of healthcare and eventual elimination of choices for us consumers (at least one of the founders has tweeted his approval of a public option, so it makes me wonder about their motives). Twitter didn’t have to choose such a draconian action. They could have looked at the implications of their decision in terms of curtailing free speech. Either they didn’t or they didn’t care, but either way, something must be done about this because our voices are being silenced. I’ve not sent out a tweet in a long time because no one will be able to find it anyway.

I think SocialOomph is onto some thing when they began promoting Statusnet as a microblogging alternative. I’ve taken out an account on identi.ca which is one of many statusnet services. Statusnet is open source and because each person or company puts up their own status net (all of them are linked together through Statusnet) it is a distributed model. Twitter is a centralized model and centralized models always have scaling issues, whereas distributed models do not. Also, when I post to Statusnet via identi.ca I am able to simultaneously able to post to Twitter and Facebook. Cool.

But Statusnet has a major drawback. Relatively few people know about it or use it. So, if I want to reach millions of people, yes, I can post to both and get that message out, but if Twitter is still not archiving my tweets, I’m still effectively silenced.

This will change soon. Statusnet is about to release a hosted solution so that anyone can setup their own microblog and link to all the others out there. In time, I believe the distributed model is going to win out, just as it always has most of the time in the market place (VHS vs Sony Beta vide tape for instance) and Statusnet will compete with Twitter, eventually emerging as a better solution.
.-= Leroy Grey´s last blog ..The Journal of Leroy E. Grey 105 =-.
http://3circles.org/journal Leroy Grey

I agree with your choices, based simply on my experience. How does Twitter get off posting this list of “top” hashtags for 2009:

1. #musicmonday
2. #iranelection
3. #sxsw
4. #swineflu
5. #nevertrust
6. #mm
7. #rememberwhen
8. #3drunkwords
9. #unacceptable
10. #iwish

It didn’t make sense given how many people use #FF or #tcot. And #3drunkwords??

Here’s my comment to the article on Mashable (http://is.gd/6tqt3): “This list is NOT even close to the truth. The first clue was #3drunkwords as the number 8 top searched hashtag… yeah right! Just a quick comparison check on one of my favorite hashtags, #tcot (Top Conservatives On Twitter) yields the following stats: 8-10 #tcot tweets PER MINUTE VS. 1 tweet EVERY THREE HOURS on #3drunkwords (I’m being generous here, if I averaged this hashtags tweets it would be far fewer tweets).”

But there is a far more worrisome issue then just Twitter’s bias towards #3drunkwords as an important hashtag.

I’m in the process of compiling some stats on whether or not Twitter is actively curtailing the free speech of conservatives. Since I started discussing this with other #tcot I’ve noticed there are a LOT of us and most people are unaware that what they tweet can’t even be found under the hashtags they’ve included in their tweets.

Twitter tells everyone they filter out anyone who fails to provide “quality” or who they feel “degraded twitter search”. What are their criteria?? No one knows. The problem is that unlike Google, who built the required infrastructure to store all searches in their archives, Twitter has chosen to delete those search results… but only for SOME people.

I haven’t finished creating a large enough sampling but a random sampling of 14 liberals, using Twitter’s own search suggestion (from:username) I found only 1 of those 14 have zero results. With everyone else you get all their tweets going back about 7 days (this appears to be the cut-off for archiving, after that tweets are deleted I assume, since they can’t be found). So, 7% of liberals got their tweets deleted from the database (not from their own twitter username site, but those tweets are not searchable by anyone in the entire Twitter universe.

How many conservatives? Well, I know a lot more conservatives so my initial sampling was larger, a total of 25. Fifteen had their tweets intact and searchable, but for ten Conservatives (that’s 10 out of 25!) my search for their tweets yielded ZERO results! That’s 40% of Conservatives are being denied their free speech rights, intentionally or unintentionally!

Again, there may not be any malice on Twitter’s part. It may be as simple as Conservatives are smarter at creating hashtags and using them with gusto, therefore they are taking up a disproportionate amount of hard drive/server space and being penalized for it. But I believe that Twitter, as a publicly accessible database has a moral obligation to treat the tweets of conservatives and liberals the same and no one should be peanlized for Twitter’s inability to scale up their operation to meet the demand on their servers. If they can’t do that, then someone with a better microblogging service should come along and put them out of business.

SocialOomph.com (formerly TweetLater) was hit hard by the unilateral, across the board ban by Twitter on recurring tweets (which was one of their best selling points for their service). I can understand wanting to stop continuous recurring tweets by online scammers, but an across the board cessation of recurring tweets means that Conservatives tweeting about healthcare are being dramatically slowed in their ability to get the truth out about the government’s real intentions for a public option… total control of healthcare and eventual elimination of choices for us consumers (at least one of the founders has tweeted his approval of a public option, so it makes me wonder about their motives). Twitter didn’t have to choose such a draconian action. They could have looked at the implications of their decision in terms of curtailing free speech. Either they didn’t or they didn’t care, but either way, something must be done about this because our voices are being silenced. I’ve not sent out a tweet in a long time because no one will be able to find it anyway.

I think SocialOomph is onto some thing when they began promoting Statusnet as a microblogging alternative. I’ve taken out an account on identi.ca which is one of many statusnet services. Statusnet is open source and because each person or company puts up their own status net (all of them are linked together through Statusnet) it is a distributed model. Twitter is a centralized model and centralized models always have scaling issues, whereas distributed models do not. Also, when I post to Statusnet via identi.ca I am able to simultaneously able to post to Twitter and Facebook. Cool.

But Statusnet has a major drawback. Relatively few people know about it or use it. So, if I want to reach millions of people, yes, I can post to both and get that message out, but if Twitter is still not archiving my tweets, I’m still effectively silenced.

This will change soon. Statusnet is about to release a hosted solution so that anyone can setup their own microblog and link to all the others out there. In time, I believe the distributed model is going to win out, just as it always has most of the time in the market place (VHS vs Sony Beta vide tape for instance) and Statusnet will compete with Twitter, eventually emerging as a better solution.
.-= Leroy Grey´s last blog ..The Journal of Leroy E. Grey 105 =-.