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Be you an aspiring writer or publisher, could you imagine producing a real, living and breathing book in a month?

Well, the team which brought us comedy writing collection, Twitter Titters, did just that - thanks to the medium of Twitter. Two of the organisers, Louise Bolotin and Christina McDermott, explained at last night’s Social Media Cafe Manchester (#smc_mcr) how the book, produced to raise money for Red Nose Day, wiped out a month of their lives in a good cause.

The idea was getting aspiring comic writers to send their work via Twitter to be judged by a panel (also sourced via Twitter) for a book that would be downloadable online (and promoted via Twitter), with all proceeds going to Children in Need.

The virtual collaboration also included writers, Craig McGinty and Guy Clapperton, who helped to keep the project’s blog updated through the process.

In the end, the judges, including Sci-fi writer, Martin Millar, had to select from 70 comic submissions for the book - including exclusive new writing from Phoenix Nights co-creator, Dave Spikey, which was made available either as a download or “print on demand”.

Christina, who lent production expertise to the job, said: “If anybody else plans to do something like this, then whatever time you think you need, double it! But despite all the heartache it was worth it - we made a book.” Since then sales of the book have raised £700 for Comic Relief.

But in the midst of being charitable, a rogue Twitterer was being distinctly uncharitable, accusing the team of ”spamming” on Twitter, not being “transparent” and generally slating the project. Though experienced social networkers, the team was unprepared for a negative backlash - a potential by-product of the social medium that needs to be managed.

The book remains on sale at least until the end of April. Go on, have a laugh while assuaging your charity conscience.

Update: for an in-depth analysis of the Twitter Titters project, visit Real Fresh TV’s blog.

People are painting social networks red to publicise their support for Comic Relief.  Individuals are changing their profile pictures on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere to red squares to demonstrate their allegiance to the charity.  As red nose day approaches expect these square to pop up all over the social media space. It already has the backing of high profile media influencers Chris Moyles producer (@ahf on twitter) was one of the first to go red.

This phenomenon is not entirely new.  In the last ten days campaigners have been using black squares to show their opposition to  New Zealand’s controversial ‘three strikes’ copyright law which would mean that if a person is accused of downloading copyrighted material three times their internet account would face closure - even if there is no proof to the allegations.

Stephen Fry was one of the highest profile campaigners replacing his Twitter picture with a black square.   There is no hard evidence that the campaign worked but New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has revealed that the implementation of the law will now take place on 27 March this year.