A pair of possible solutions that I’ve thought deeply about for, oooh, 15 seconds each. So feel free to pick holes – this is the bluest of blue skies stuff.

1. Power Tweeters (yeuuch) make it their business to diversify and define channels. So, for example, messages of sympathy and support could have gone to #supportiran rather than #iranelection. Clogging channels becomes a social media faux pas.

The problem with this is that people like to *feel involved*. That’s the great draw of social media, but also, in this context, it’s major weakness. The flame gets snuffed out by the beating of the wings of all the moths around it.

2. Trending topics are ranked using more sophisticated algorithm than simple volume. Could trending-topic tweets have a thumbs up/thumbs down icon, with the search results displaying some sort of balance between real-time and best-value (as decided by the crowd) tweets?

Solution one is crowdsourced, solution two is top-down tech-imposed. I think if social media – not just Twitter – are going to retain their value they need to remain flexible and crowd-based. In so far as possible, behaviours have to change as a result of crowd-developed standards and mores. Anything that takes freedom away from the user is going to dent the popularity and usefulness of any social medium that implements it.

Social media is still very young and I reckon we’re very much in its adolescent phase (if we’re even there yet). It’s very shouty, and the group hasn’t worked out the best way to deal with problematic behaviour. I’m not sure a solution can be imposed – it might have to evolve.

on Twitter I think the #unfollow option should be exercised with greater abandon so that serial offenders get the message…

Being able to spot changes of colour on avatars wouldn’t hurt either