By now we all know what Twitter is and why there is such a buzz around it. It can be a bit daunting figuring out how to get started and who to follow. In the last year there have been a number of lists released by various people and institutions about who the most influential Irish twitterers are. These lists can be a great jumping off point, but we here at Radical/Pembroke took a casual approach and had a whip round the offices for the staff’s favourite Irish twits Don’t worry, we didn’t just let them run riot with their choices. We generated a shortlist and then analysed them using a neat little tool called ‘tweetlevel’, developed by global PR firm Edelman. The tool evaluates each twitter user name on four factors influence, popularity, engagement and trust. For more technical information about what elements feed into your tweetlevel visit the site here. Our list threw up some of the usual suspects including Damien Mulley, but we also got a few surprises too. Some of the more interesting tweeters are the people further down the list that are not always top of mind. By combining the interests of a PR company and a digital agency we have created a very interesting mix of influential individuals online in Ireland. We hope that whether you are a first time tweeter or an experienced twitterer there is something new for you in this list. So here is the list of our top tweeters in Ireland arranged by the ‘tweetlevel’ tool. Twitterer                                       Twitter                                 Tweetlevel 1. Arse Blog   http://twitter.com/arseblog   68 This is a great Irish based blog about Arsenal Football Club and all things football. This guy has over 11,000 followers on his twitter and is great for the engagement especially during matches. Take note new tweeters! 2. Damien Mulley  http://twitter.com/damienmulley  66 No Irish list is complete without Mulley. Tweetlevel has ranked him high and with good reason. Definitely worth following no matter what industry you are in. 3. Darragh Doyle   https://twitter.com/darraghdoyle  65 Darragh Doyle is communications manager over at Boards.ie. Loves his Twitter. Watch out for the bad jokes though. 4. Dave Moore   http://twitter.com/Dave98FM  65 Dave does the 98fm morning show. Tweets consistently during the show and after. He will always follow you back and interact, a really approachable guy. 5. Mark Little   https://twitter.com/marklittlenews   63 There is a great buzz around RTE’s Mark Little and his new venture Storyful. Often tweets social media industry news, but his fondness for current affairs remains intact. 6. Krishne De  http://twitter.com/KrishnaDe    63 Hardcore digital industry guru runs a great blog; she lives and works in Ireland. 26,000 followers can’t be wrong. 7. Pat Phelan  https://twitter.com/patphelan   63 Pat is an Irish tech expert. He runs a very approachable blog that looks at technology news from an Irish perspective. Tweets advice and often helps out with techie problems. 8. Sharon Corr  http://twitter.com/Sharon_Corr   61 Yes the Irish violin sensation is on Twitter. Sharon tweets her day-to-day goings on and often interacts with fans. Bono can’t even say that. 9. Redfly   http://twitter.com/redfly    60 Refly marketing are big in the online industry, specialise in PPC and search. 10. Nialler9  https://twitter.com/nialler9    60 This needs no intro to music lovers or fellow tweeters. Nialler9 is the editor of State magazine and is a must follow for all Irish music fans 11. David Cochrane http://twitter.com/davidcochrane   59 Founder of the politics forum politics.ie. He sparks the odd debate with a politician, makes for great tweeting. 12. Una Mullally  http://twitter.com/UnaMullally   58 Una is a journalist for the Tribune and frankly hilarious on Twitter. Bio: So I left a monkey in your fridge…. 13. The Irish Times https://twitter.com/the_irish_times   56 It is always handy to have a least one purely headline tweeter in your feed. This is one of the best, simple and to the point 14. Frank Fitzgibbon https://twitter.com/FrankSunTimes   56 Editor of the Irish Sunday Times. Irish Sunday Times doesn’t appear to have Twitter so this isn’t a bad substitute. 15. Silicon Republic http://twitter.com/siliconrepublic   56 This is another great technology website. It’s not quite as personable as Pat Phelan’s but still definitely worth the read. 16. Conor Pope   http://twitter.com/conor_pope   56 Conor Pope is the Irish Times Pricewatch editor and avid tweeter. 17. Pj Gallagher   http://twitter.com/pjgallagher   55 If only for a little humor in your day, Pj along with other Irish comedic legends such as Des Bishop are all tweet maniacs too. They often run competitions for tickets to their shows too. 18. Justin Parks  https://twitter.com/justinparks   55 Justin is an Irish social media guru living in Spain. Worth adding to your social media list to see what he is up to. 19. Ger Gilroy  https://twitter.com/gergilroy    54 Ger is a sports editor and works for Newstalk, great engagement, surprised he wasn’t higher up the list. 20. Irish Internet Association https://twitter.com/iia   54 An obvious one for anyone in the industry has huge influence and trust associated with it. 21. Ray Foley  https://twitter.com/rayfoleyshow   52 This one was mentioned by a few in the offices, personal favourite for a bit of radio tweeting. His blog is great for a laugh too. Love the show Ray! 22. Made in Hollywood http://twitter.com/madeinhollywood  50 This has to be one of the greatest examples of how any company can use social media regardless of their product offering. Made in Hollywood supply innovative polystyrene foam solutions to a number of industries. Yes, polystyrene foam. 23. Sarah Kavanagh https://twitter.com/slkav    50 Sarah is lead designer with social media firm Simply Zesty and has her own personal photoblog too. 24. Culch.ie  http://twitter.com/Culch_ie    49 This is a great pop culture blog from Ireland. They are not as active on the engagement side of things but it is a great entertainment blog. 25. Brand Ireland   https://twitter.com/BrandIreland   48 These guys provide great insights into Irish marketing and PR. The blog is very readable even if marketing is not your primary interest. 26. GAA_Beo  https://twitter.com/GAA_BEO   46 Guess what they tweet about? They don’t engage very often but do provide great GAA coverage so a must for all fans. 27. Richard Fitzgerald https://twitter.com/fitzyrichard   46 This is an Irish guy living in London working in social media. Has a great blog http://52burritodates.com/ where he is taking 52 different girls out on burrito date over a year. One of the lucky women was Laura Whitmore. 28. Electric Picnic  https://twitter.com/electricpicnic    37 Most of the big Irish festivals have Twitters this year. Oxegen have a live Twitter wall up by the main stage this year. Fingers crossed the picnic will take their lead.   29. Blanaid  https://twitter.com/blanaidhennessy  32 This is one of our favorite fashion bloggers. Unfortunately, not as active on Twitter as we would like hence to low score, but the blog is really great. 30. Social Media Ire https://twitter.com/SocialMediaIRE   32 This is a great independent pit stop for anyone interested in social media in Ireland. Could utilize twitter a little better through interaction but always comes up with good reads. So there you have it, this is by no means a definitive list, just the people we like to see in our feed. Don’t forget to add Irishmediawatch and RadicalDublin to yourTwitter feed too. We would love to hear from you. Tell us who your favourite Irish twits are! Aoife ...

I read with interest Pól Ó Muirí’s piece in today’s edition of The Irish Times. For those not in the know Pól Ó Muirí is the Irish Language Editor of The Irish Times and every Wednesday he writes as gaeilge about topics affecting Irish speakers or those in the Gaeltacht regions and about upcoming events or launches etc. A what’s hot and what’s not for the Irish speaking tribe if you will. This week’s focus was on a literary festival (IMRAM), a new Irish speaking course for adults and also about the allocation of grants to families in Gaeltacht areas who conduct family life through the medium of Irish. The scheme is called Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge - it does what it says on the tin as the man said. In total 3,355 families received this grant last year. A full grant totals €260 per family and a reduced grant totals €130, presumably for those that kind of raise their family through Irish. Counties on the receiving end were Cork, Kerry, Donegal, Waterford, May, Galway and Meath. Not one family in Dublin received this grant. Or in Limerick. Or in Wicklow. Or in Sligo. There is a train of thought out there, that Irish speakers in their purest form, are elitist and reluctant to embrace anything or anyone that has not been born and bred Gaeltacht and gaeilgeoir. While I do not agree with the sentiment just described, I think a scheme like this reinforces this notion that is out there. Only true speakers of the language are worthy of our support. You see. I am a gaeilgeoir (or an Irish speaker to those not in the know). But I live in Dublin. So somebody somewhere decided that it was not important to encourage me and my family, financially, to speak Irish. Would €260 make me want to speak Irish any more? Of course not. But it is interesting nonetheless. I am discriminated against because I am a gaeilgeoir living in Dublin. The definition of the modern day gaeilgeoir is of course easily described and we are even easier to bash. We are militant for a start. That is a given. We are rural. Probably farmers. We only watch TG4. We only listen to RnaG. And we are ‘Rah heads. And backward. So, who does the bashing? Well, plenty do actually. We are being bashed by the “Kevin Myers” brigade, by the “Irish takes away valuable time on other school subjects” brigade, by the “it’s a dead language” brigade. It was eloquently put on the DART this morning by a 15/16 year old heading into school; ”Irish is a shit language”. But to me, Irish is my first language and it is a living language to me in Dublin. What Irish means to you and what impact it has on your life and what experience you had in school, are irrelevant. But every article, opinion piece and programme that lambastes the Irish language is having a go at me and the choices I have made, that my family made for me and that I will make for my family in the future. I don’t care with a passion like some people do for compulsory Irish in schools or bi-lingual forms from Leinster House or Irish language TV stations or even a €260 grant every year. Each has their own merits, but will I march on Leinster House or write in to The Irish Times for these? No. What I do care for is to be allowed to make a choice and that my choice not be a badge of dishonour that I wear like a noose around my neck.   But if I did march on Leinster House looking for equality and that my wishes to speak my (and your) native language be respected – would I be lauded for my outspoken views on equality or would I be cast aside as just another militant gaeilgeoir still living in the past? Answers on a postcard to Madam Editor.   ...

  October is breast cancer awareness month so I thought I would highlight a positive blog that is helping survivors of the disease cope. A blog can be a great way of creating a community which I can imagine must be of some solace for those who have beaten the illness or indeed are living through it. Marie Ennis-O’Connor is one such survivor who wanted to share her story in the hope that others would find comfort in it and show that they were not alone. Marie uses the blog to write about the latest treatments and studies conducted in the area of cancer research as well as highlighting fundraising efforts by different bodies for the cause including Ireland’s first ever Pink Auction in Cork City showcasing some fabulous pieces from Irish fashion designers. There are also practical dietary tips on what foods to include in your diet if you are currently going through or recovering from radiotherapy. The blog plays host to some truly insightful posts on topics affecting a person’s recovery in both the physical and emotional sense of the word. Complex issues such as survivor guilt and how to cope with your changing perception of beauty are written about beautifully and with some inspiring insights. The site also has an open invite to anyone who wishes to share their story with readers which the author hopes can aid the healing process.  Marie’s blog is a powerful read and one that should receive the respect it deserves. Cancer affects so many Irish people directly and indirectly that one would hope that outlets such as these can offer some comfort. I applaud Marie in her healing effort and urge people to recommend the site to anyone they know who has been affected by cancer. Marie also has an equally powerful blog which aids in her recovery from the tragedy of miscarriage that is just as brave and awe inspiring to read. Aoife ...

So, having located to my new house over the weekend, the first commute into work took place this morning and as a result the morning commuting conundrum needed to be addressed. Previously I was a short stroll (or lift when raining) from the DART but now I was nowhere near the DART, so that would need a Park ‘n’ Ride job should I persist with it or I could get the 47 bus which leaves from right outside the front door. So the decision boiled down to the following:- 1) Persist with the DART, pay €3.60 in parking a day, but for a service which is packed, never has any seats and is two degrees shy of sauna heat in the morning BUT is usually on time and is regular enough (if once every 10-15 minutes is regular). OR 2) Get on the 47 bus, which has plenty of seats, is well ventillated and drops me to Pearse Street DART station BUT which is brutally infrequent and means either being in stupidly early or just after starting time. So I chose the latter option. On the bus at 8.07 and in at 8.55. As an experience it was far more pleasant than the DART. I had a seat. Managed to read the rest of yesterday’s paper. I also saved money by not having to take the car and doing the Park ‘n’ Ride rip off that I would have to do on the DART. But as I sat on the bus on Nutley Lane (which has no bus lane) and as I watched people speed by as they strolled along on foot, I certainly missed the idea of perpetual motion that the DART brings. But then, I just forgot about it and settled back into my seat and dreamed of an IKEA free weekend… For what it’s worth the boss told me to buy a moped… Helpful as always.  So, DART or bus…pros and cons…let’s be having it?! ...