#freestarbucks (tomorrow, March 14th) - Thank You Very Much

Twitter is a funny beast. It's a strange mix of banal ''I'm eating a lovely panini" and really useful, real time information. When Manchester was rioting last summer, I was glued to the Greater Manchester Police and The Manchester Evening News' Twitter feeds for the latest updates, which kept us bang up to date. 
OK - so it helped rioters co-ordinate their activities as well, but lets not go there on this occasion, because today, Twitter has come up trumps. While top trending #dothebartman  is a lovely nostalgic memory (thanks Chris Moyles), the one I'm talking about is #freestarbucks!
While I wasn't aware that Starbucks was in the midst of a Nelson Mandela captive situation, there is no need to panic. Starbucks just wants to get to know us a bit better - to see us as a person rather than a reference number, user number or an IP address. Instead of calling us a 'skinny latte' or a 'moccafrappachino', they want us to introduce ourselves by name.
To celebrate, if you go into Starbucks tomorrow (14th March 2012, before noon) and 'introduce yourself' then they will introduce you to a free skinny latte - and if we ask nicely, probably a free hug. Click here to see the trailer. 
Thanks very much Starbucks, I know whose free Wifi I'll be availing myself of tomorrow!