The best tweeter in Europe?

As we enter the first round of EU #TFC14 and keeping in the Twitter fight club tradition, I thought it would be useful to quote from our US brothers to explain the broad criteria for a good twitter fighter and how the public and judges decide on who should win:

“metrics such as: knowledge base; quality of argumentation; innovative thinking; humor, snark, facility with quips, and charisma; and responsiveness to followers. We are looking to crown the best overall [EU] tweeter, so contestants’ full bodies of work on Twitter are fair game, but any work outside of Twitter should not be considered. Everyone is encouraged to make their decisions in their own way.” Source: Twitter Fight Club 2012 here.

So, as you may have gathered, anything goes and the only real rule is don’t be rude, mean or a hater! The only requirement is to try and be interesting and have fun!

Bribery is encouraged (particularly towards the final), judges will be demanding  and biased, but will generally be looking out for the best tweeter of the day / competition!

Don’t forget to tag: #TFC14

Tomorrow’s L32 judges are:

Schuman + Monnet brackets : @SvenSaekert & @ganemmaha

Adenauer + Spinelli brackets: @danabrussels & @shearmanm

Sleep well tonight, for tomorrow the inaugural EU Twitter Fight Club begins!

EU Twitter Fight Club Bracket 2014

And so it begins! Below is the inaugural EU Twitter Fight Club 2014 and combat dates.

Beware all who enter, only one EU twitter fighter will leave victorious.

Rounds will take place:

Preliminary round (all incomplete Last 32 matches): Tuesday 22nd April – results released Wednesday morning.

Last 16 rounds : Wednesday 23rd April – results released Thursday morning.

Quarter Finals – Thursday 24th April – Results release Friday morning – Semi-Finalists get Friday and the weekend to rest.

Semi-Finals – Monday 28th April – Results released Tuesday morning

GRAND FINAL – Tuesday 29th April – A Champion is crowned and announced on Wednesday morning

(click image below to zoom)

And if you aren’t familiar who the competitors – see the bios below:

1	@jonworth	Confused European with a British passport. Lefty-liberal-green politically. Online campaigner and blogger. Writes about EU, DE, UK and tech. Train traveller.
2	@eurocrat	personal opinion and food for thought on the EU as viewed from London
3	@euonymblog	EMA student at @UniMelb. Ex-EU official. Knitter. Thesp. Feminist. Fellow of RSA. Polyglot. Eisenhower fellow.
4	@kosmopolit	job hunting EU wonk, sporadic blogger @kosmopolito, former @ecfr comms manager, @bloggingportal co-founder, @UACES trustee [avatar © bauhaus]
5	@captain_europe	Former crime correspondent. Serving official. Part time superhero. Full time European. Usual disclaimers apply.
6	@Berlaymonster	Witty Euro-ferret – @Dick_Puddlecote, Sehr lustiger Herr – @grimmse, Not always the most accurate – @ECSpokesOlivier, Euro-fraggle – @MalmstromEU
7	@MissMillicent	Professional interests in UK & EU politics, education & digital democratic engagement. Personal interests also in Scotland & Norway. Tweets re all the above.
8	@dicknieuwenhuis	EU-official. IT-coordinator @ FPI – European Commission. Pro pace et fraternitate gentium NB: This is my personal account. RT is NOT approval!
9	@BrusselsGeek	Reporting on all manner of EU geekery. Brussels Correspondent for IDG News Service, (eg PCWorld, TechHive) senior presenter on VIEUWS.eu and moderator for hire.
10	@huettemann	SecGen @NetzwerkEBD Berlin & Board @EMinternational Brussels | pol scientist @UniPassau : Europeanisation & interest groups | all views my own | RT ≠ endorse
11	@mikakosinska	Sec Gen of EPHA on maternity leave. Tweets re health stuff, EU stuff & industry antics. Views are my own. DM me @ secretarygeneral@epha.org
12	@quarsan	Chief Happiness Officer to the EU Institutions and Evolutionary-based uncoupling process facilitator
13	@VPertusot	Head of Brussels office for French think tank @Ifri_ (@IfriBxl). RTs not always endorsement, but I don’t RT randomly. Views my own. Tweet about EU, UK, defense.
14	@Usherwood	Associate Dean Learning & Teaching, Faculty of Arts & Human Sciences, University of Surrey, working on euroscepticism and EU more widely. All opinions my own.
15	@ktowens	European with a strong interest in political communication working for @EPP_CoR Views my own
16	@hughbs	Grumpy old European
17	@pswidlicki	Liberal Londoner, Brit & European. Research Analyst at @OpenEurope. Focus on UK, German, Polish politics & eurozone. Existentialist. Opinions very much my own.
18	@tineurope	Research Fellow #EU Politics and Institutions, Notre Europe – Institut Jacques Delors (@notreeurope). LSE Alumnus. I have just moved to Berlin. Views are mine.
19	@tom_wein	Politics & defence during the day; writing, reading and beer-drinking in the evening. RT≠endorsement. Views my own. Look out for False Moustache magazine.
20	@chchristiaens	Blogger for @cosmopublic. Interested in the #EU, military history and innovation. Tweets in English and Dutch. All Tweets are personal. Brussels
21	@Christina_D_S	Adviser @ccrecemr:All things #social,#employment + #SocialDialogue. EN/PL/FR/Hindi .Proud Londoner + EU optimist,opinions my own.
22	@CraigWinneker	These are just, like, my opinions, man | RT = RT – MT + enter – Also @instapoet
23	@NickCrosby	Europhile, consultant, fascinated by history and politics. RT not endorsement

EU Twitter Fight Club: the Details

Wow. EU #TFC14 is GAME ON! Thanks to everyone who has signed up and especially to @jonworth, @missmillicent, @tom_wein and @usherwood for promoting the idea.  Still confused? Check out the details below! and the current entry list here.

Charlemagne…. Would have been an excellent EU twitter fighter.

Quick overview of the Competition:

WHAT is #TFC14? – A tweeting competition between tweeps interested in Europe and the EU to find out ‘who’s best at Twitter’- Its a chance to be informative, silly and to share interesting thoughts about Europe  – with the promise of a prize and an EU TweetUp in honour of the winner.

The winner will be crowned, revered, forced to retire from the Fight Club and awarded a prize suitable for a champion tweeter (a very small prize). The 32 tweeters are ranked, split up into 4 brackets and fight it out until we have one winner.

So it looks something like this—>

Monnet	L32*	L16	Quarter Final	Semi Final	Final
	L32*
	L32*	L16
	L32*
Schuman	L32*	L16	Quarter Final
	L32*
	L32*	L16
	L32*
Spinelli	L32*	L16	Quarter Final	Semi Final
	L32*
	L32*	L16
	L32*
Adenauer	L32*	L16	Quarter Final
	L32*
	L32*	L16
	L32*

HOW DO I WIN? –  Each day (not weekends) pairs of tweeters will ‘face-off’ and compete at being the best/most insightful/ funniest/least boring / most European tweeter of the day. Really, there are no rules so how you play the game is up to you. Personally, I would recommend bribing the judges.

A winner is decided from 50% public polling (On each competition day there will be a poll hosted here which closes at midnight) and the other 50% vote divided between volunteer judges (so if there are 3 bracket judges = 30% vote each) — This means that if you only have a few followers, you still have a chance of winning. The winner goes through to the next round, the loser goes to Strasbourg to think about what they’ve done. THERE WILL BE NO CONSENSUS VOTING.

HOW ARE WE RANKED? – As this is EU TFC’s first year – we’ll have to rank simply by the number of followers. These will be taken on Thursday evening. Those towards the lower end will find they start in the Last 32 round with some tweeters getting byes into the last 16. Next year, I promise, will factor in TFC14 results using highly complex regressions…

[Inspirational leader photo-break]

WHY? – Why not!? democracy? Because it builds a European public sphere? Also, the American (original) version is pretty funny: http://www.twitterfightclub.com

OK! HOW DO I JOIN? – You can still sign up to fight by sending me a tweet / email (EUtwitterfightclub@gmail.com) until Thursday 17th April 17:00 GMT (judges can volunteer at any time throughout the tournament)! I will then draw up the competition to start on Tuesday 22nd April.

I’M STILL CONFUSED!: Read this by @hayesbrown – he’s talking about the original american one and i’ve lost the ability to explain it more.

WHEN?

Preliminary round (all incomplete Last 32 matches): Tuesday 22nd April – results released Wednesday morning.

Last 16 rounds : Wednesday 23rd April – results released Thursday morning.

Quarter Finals – Thursday 24th April – Results release Friday morning – Semi-Finalists get Friday and the weekend to rest.

Semi-Finals – Monday 28th April – Results released Tuesday morning

GRAND FINAL – Tuesday 29th April – A Champion is crowned and announced on Wednesday morning

So to battle!

(once Easter is over)

 

 

EU #TFC14 Fighters + Judges (so far!)

Thanks to everyone who has signed up to #TFC14 (EU)! I’m pleasantly terrified by the interest that the competition has already received.

Here are the competitors and judges so far. Check your name is on the list if you think it should be and send a tweet / email (eutwitterfightclub@gmail.com) to sign up!!

The deadline for entry is Thursday 17th April 17:00 GMT (Judges any time throughout the tournament)

@Berlaymonster	Witty Euro-ferret – @Dick_Puddlecote, Sehr lustiger Herr – @grimmse, Not always the most accurate – @ECSpokesOlivier, Euro-fraggle – @MalmstromEU
@BrusselsGeek	Reporting on all manner of EU geekery. Brussels Correspondent for IDG News Service, (eg PCWorld, TechHive) senior presenter on VIEUWS.eu and moderator for hire.
@captain_europe	Former crime correspondent. Serving official. Part time superhero. Full time European. Usual disclaimers apply.
@Christina_D_S	Adviser @ccrecemr:All things #social,#employment + #SocialDialogue. EN/PL/FR/Hindi .Proud Londoner + EU optimist,opinions my own.
@CraigWinneker	These are just, like, my opinions, man | RT = RT – MT + enter – Also @instapoet
@dicknieuwenhuis	EU-official. IT-coordinator @ FPI – European Commission. Pro pace et fraternitate gentium NB: This is my personal account. RT is NOT approval!
@euonymblog	EMA student at @UniMelb. Ex-EU official. Knitter. Thesp. Feminist. Fellow of RSA. Polyglot. Eisenhower fellow.
@eurocrat	personal opinion and food for thought on the EU as viewed from London
@huettemann	SecGen @NetzwerkEBD Berlin & Board @EMinternational Brussels | pol scientist @UniPassau : Europeanisation & interest groups | all views my own | RT ≠endorse
@hughbs	Grumpy old European
@jonworth	Confused European with a British passport. Lefty-liberal-green politically. Online campaigner and blogger. Writes about EU, DE, UK and tech. Train traveller.
@kosmopolit	job hunting EU wonk, sporadic blogger @kosmopolito, former @ecfr comms manager, @bloggingportal co-founder, @UACES trustee [avatar © bauhaus]
@ktowens	European with a strong interest in political communication working for @EPP_CoR Views my own
@mikakosinska	Sec Gen of EPHA on maternity leave. Tweets re health stuff, EU stuff & industry antics. Views are my own. DM me @ secretarygeneral@epha.org
@MissMillicent	Professional interests in UK & EU politics, education & digital democratic engagement. Personal interests also in Scotland & Norway. Tweets re all the above.
@pswidlicki	Liberal Londoner, Brit & European. Research Analyst at @OpenEurope. Focus on UK, German, Polish politics & eurozone. Existentialist. Opinions very much my own.
@quarsan	Chief Happiness Officer to the EU Institutions and Evolutionary-based uncoupling process facilitator
@tineurope	Research Fellow #EU Politics and Institutions, Notre Europe – Institut Jacques Delors (@notreeurope). LSE Alumnus. I have just moved to Berlin. Views are mine.
@tom_wein	Politics & defence during the day; writing, reading and beer-drinking in the evening. RT≠endorsement. Views my own. Look out for False Moustache magazine.
@Usherwood	Associate Dean Learning & Teaching, Faculty of Arts & Human Sciences, University of Surrey, working on euroscepticism and EU more widely. All opinions my own.

 

 

And the volunteer Judges (along with the general twitter sphere vote)

@ShearmanM	Self-elected President of EU Twitter Fight Club: http://bit.ly/1iTC0HP  – Also, Editor @europeandme – Writer @NewEastEurope.
@SvenSaekert	Community Manager @EUinDE & @EPinDeutschland, Germany, Berlin | #ShareEurope | tweets private | RT ≠endorsement | http://www.linkedin.com/in/svensaekert
@DanaBrussels	Social media @EU_Commission. Explorer of new media on the lookout for EU’s public sphere. New mum. Temporarily out of the office. Following #euco and #ep2014

Twitter Fight Club EU Edition coming April 2014

TwitterFightClub is an annual March Madness style tournament for national security and foreign policy tweeters. Every year the world’s top academics and commentators debate, joke and gif their way through a few days of tweeting to find the wittiest and most knowledgeable tweeter that year.

There’s only one problem – its nearly exclusively American. 

So….. The Europeans are fighting back with a new edition. EU Tweeps will battle it out for the same fame, glory, lolz and a very small prize from the host @shearmanm (postage from UK to EU included) in the same way as the yanks, just in a more civilized way.

If you want to compete or  judge – please register your interest at: EUtwitterfightclub[at]gmail.com

You don’t have to have 10,000 followers, just an interesting feed on European countries / EU politics / foreign policy and a sense of humour to tweet about Europe for a few days. (which is what you’d be doing anyway). Bribery of judges, particularly in the form of croissants is encouraged, if not strictly necessary.

Still confused? Check out #TFC14 and  a simple guide to Twitter Fight Club here.

Dates and details forthcoming – but first round matches will likely be in mid-April. This came about thanks to the encouragement/coercion from @Usherwood

 

 

Header image: Luis Guillermo Pineda Rodas (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)