The most immediately striking characteristic of the release is the site’s new, smarter look. Now adorned with a handy Navigation Bar, the Home page offers more detail on top causes, including the date the Twibbons were created and when Twitter users last joined them. You’ll also see a few ‘Twibbon Twendsetters’, our very own 'Hall of Fame' for users who have gathered the most supporters through the Twibbons they designed.

Filing the Twibbons under categories makes it easier to browse to find a cause you might affiliate with. A technology enthusiast, for example, can see the most popular tech Twibbons:

This just scratches the surface. By clicking on any Twibbon, you can access even more information about that cause, including graphical and statistical analysis of the cause’s progress since it was created. You’ll also see tag clouds specific to each category, making the most popular tags visible.

Statistical breakdown for IE6 Must Die:

As you can see, we’ve embraced and emphasised the Twitter fascination for trends in the new version of Twibbon. This will be incredibly useful to supporters and cause creators alike; they will now have more data to see whether their Twitter campaign is running smoothly! Another very cool function we’ve integrated allows users to check how many of their friends on Twitter support the same cause as them, so now you’ll instantly know who rallied to your call (or Tweet)! You just need to login and click on the ‘Supporters’ tab of any cause.

We’ve gone and dedicated a whole section to ‘Twibutes’ – massive mosaics generated for causes when they recruit enough supporters from the Twitter community. They comprise the avatars of every user who pledged their support to the cause with a Twibbon, and in their entirety, the mosaic takes on the appearance of the Twibbon design itself. Now you can browse through them, or download them in a range of sizes to set as your background or to email around your friends. 

If you experience any problems with this new service, or you just want to let us know how much you’re enjoying it(!) please let us know by clicking on the Feedback button on the left of the website. Thank you very much for continuing to use Twibbon.

The Twibbon Team
@twibbonsupport

Shortly after this first tweet was published on Twitter, many thousands of users, predominantly from the UK, began sharing similar experiences to @lesliefloyd. Driven by a compulsion to defend an institution that lies at the heart of British society, Twitterers offered their stories – and those of their families and friends – to the world, condensed into 140 characters.

@bigtitch: neighbour - got cancer - radiotherapy, home visits, nurses, dietitians, physios - 3 years later still alive and not bankrupt #welovethenhs
@HarrietCrosse: #welovethenhs Scary operation in middle of dissertation year at Uni. Away from home/family. Nurses amazing. So kind. I’ll never forget
@penny_dr3adful: #welovethenhs because we don’t have to think about whether we can afford life-saving treatment when an emergency happens
@Alison_McGovern: For making sure that Dad was there for his speech at my wedding, despite cancer coming back, with the best treatment possible #welovethenhs

As the expression forced its way up the trending list on the social networking site, Twitter users flocked to Twibbon to register their solidarity with a ‘#welovethenhs’ Twibbon. The movement had already taken on a serious political dimension, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah tweeting in appreciation of the moving outpouring and Health Secretary Andy Burnham reporting that he would ‘defend the institution to my dying day’, so it was little surprise to see former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and MP Kerry McCarthy sporting the design.

It wasn’t long before mainstream news outlets took notice and published articles about the trend:

Here’s a full list of links to articles in the British and international Press detailing the story.
The Daily Telegraph
The Times Online
The Guardian
BBC News
National Post
The Huffington Post
UK Press Association

While Twitter has facilitated unprecedented global conversation at grassroots level on the subject of healthcare, there has also been heated debate. Twibbon users have created causes arguing against ‘ObamaCare’ based on a NHS model, the most notable being ‘I Am The Mob’.

No doubt the saga will continue to dominate the pages of our online and printed media sources, and Twitter users will continue the astonishing momentum of this cause. Watch this space, and use Twibbon to pick your side.