As we enter another brave new year, I reflect that I have been writing news and thoughts in a monthly column in this magazine for over 12 years.\u00a0 Every one of these columns is stored on the Knebworth House website \u2013 my first is dated December 2005. \u00a0Today, in 2018, as well as sending news and thoughts monthly to the Parish News, I now also send it regularly, sometimes daily, to the whole world (potentially), via Twitter.<\/p>\n
In December 2005 the word \u2018Twitter\u2019 meant no more than the sound of birds.\u00a0 \u2018Twitter\u2019 the phone\/computer app was created four months after this column, in March 2006, and launched in July 2006.\u00a0 Today it is used by over 330 million people, and is famously (or infamously) the preferred method of communication of the President of the United States. You may prefer not to know what the President of the United States was thinking last night, but it is extraordinary that you can!\u00a0 Hearing from me once a month, you may also feel is quite enough.\u00a0 But there will be people and news that you are interested in on a more regular basis, and if you have a mobile phone (or access to the internet), in 2018, you can be kept up-to-date instantly, at no cost.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t believe, in our generation, that Twitter is a replacement for the magazine you have in your hand, but I do encourage you if you have access to a mobile phone to \u2018follow\u2019 parish news that interests you from the Twitter accounts of local people and local organisations. \u00a0If you haven\u2019t already, download the Twitter app, create an account for yourself (it\u2019s free), type \u201cKnebworth\u201d or \u201cHertfordshire\u201d into search, and \u2018follow\u2019 (it\u2019s free) those people and organisations whose updates might be of interest.\u00a0 Our local newspapers, radio stations and politicians won\u2019t be telling you what they had for breakfast \u2013 they will be giving you, in short 280-character comments, up-to-date news and thoughts about our community, its daily life, issues and opportunities. \u00a0District Councillor Steve Hemingway\u2019s Twitter feed @SteveKnebworth is a good example. \u00a0@HenryCobboldKH is a less good example \u2013 warning, I may<\/u> reference my breakfast \u2013 but if, over the years, you\u2019ve found one or two of these columns worth reading, you may also find the occasional tweet from me of interest.<\/p>\n
Happy Brave New Year!<\/p>\n
Henry Lytton Cobbold
\n@HenryCobboldKH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we enter another brave new year, I reflect that I have been writing news and thoughts in a monthly column in this magazine for over 12 years.\u00a0 Every one of these columns is stored on the Knebworth House website … Continue reading