Tinker London

Twat Race is a motorized leader board that displays the frequency of Twitter conversations about political parties in the UK. Whenever anyone writes a "tweet" to the official accounts of the Conservative, Labour, or Liberal Democrat parties (@conservatives, @uklabour and @libdems, respectively), that party’s speech bubbles moves up the board, inching closer to the finish line at Parliament.

Tinker built the board over 24 hours at the Guardian Hack Day, as a tongue in cheek response to David Cameron’s derision of Twitter in a July 29 radio interview ("The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it – too many twits might make a twat").

Like many Twitter visualizations, the Twat Race is both silly and a bit serious. Without offering any indication of content, it can provide an up-to-the-minute alert that ‘something is happening’, as well as a longer-term overview of how extensively different political parties are plugged in to this particular part of the web.

The Twat Race is currently a permanent fixture of the London-based Guardian offices on their 3rd floor. On most days, the Conservatives lead the race.