Brits on Twitter look in One Direction - and it's not to Number 10

None of these cool young men are David Cameron.                        (Photo: Calvin Aurand/TriStar pictures)

Apparently, when Harry Styles (a real person; he is the funny-haired one in boyband One Direction) tweets "I just dropped my phone on my face" it has more resonance than when David Cameron (prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and First Lord of the Treasury) tweets "Great to see a sharp rise in car manufacturing in the UK."

PeerIndex, a U.K. social media company, has ranked Britain's top 140 Twitter influencers, and the first five are all members of the One Direction. They are, in order: Liam Payne, the aforementioned Mr. Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. In sixth is another warbler, Ed Sheeran. 

And at number seven on your list is the prime minister. CNN host and former newspaper editor Piers Morgan, journalist Caitlin Moran and comedian Ricky Gervais round out the top 10. Andy Murray is the top athlete, at number 21.

(As an aside, I like that the taciturn Murray's description of himself is this: "I play tennis.")

PeerIndex says it analyzed more than 10 billion tweets, from 150 million users. They focused on whether other people in the U.K. were "responding to, retweeting or engaging with a tweeter. Our maths also assesses who the people engaging with an influencer are. So a retweet from someone highly influential is worth more than a retweet from an average person. "

The key, it seems, is to be active and evocative.

Studies like this are really a chance for PeerIndex to get some ink, but they're fun. And they're also a chance for me to leave you with One Direction's version of "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)" - a video they made for the British charity Comic Relief. Look for a Cameron cameo toward the end.

Get those crazy kids off the stoop!

 

Jennifer Quinn is a foreign affairs and investigative reporter at the Star. As a journalist with the Associated Press, based in London, she wrote extensively about British politics. Follow her on Twitter @JQStar.

Kid from refugee camp becomes singing sensation on Arab Idol

                                                                    Facebook images of Mohammed Assaf

Very little good news comes out of the Middle East these days, so here's one. 

A 23-year-old kid from a refugee camp in Gaza has become a regional celebrity and a source of Palestinian pride as a contestant on Arab Idol. 

Mohammed Assaf is singing tonight in the finale of the talent show broadcast in Beirut, Lebanon as millions of fans all over the Arab world gather to watch his traditional songs. Some cafes in the West Bank city of Ramallah are even offering to text a vote for every cup of coffee that customers order, Reuters reported. 

One fan tweeted that he “unites Palestinians as the legendary Arab singers of the past once did” while another added, “he brings out the best in us.”

Assaf grew up in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip where he lives with his parents and six siblings. He sings at weddings. 

Politicians are galvanizing around Assaf too, perhaps hoping a bit of his stardust will rub off.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has encouraged the Palestinian diaspora to vote for Assaf, and instructed the ministry of foreign affairs to contact its embassies around the world in an effort to mobilize support for the young star, Maan news agency in Lebanon reported. 

He has been described as charming and indeed Assaf thanked Palestinian leaders for coming to watch him perform .

"Their presence gave me more energy to move on and sing better and represent Palestine in its beautiful image," he told Maan. Assaf is up against three other contestants, including a young Syrian woman. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

 This YouTube video alone has been watched 3.4 million times. 

 

Hamida Ghafour is a foreign affairs reporter at The Star. She has lived and worked in the Middle East and Asia for more than 10 years and is the author of a book on Afghanistan. Follow her on Twitter @HamidaGhafour