After reading an article entitled "A Tweet Unleashes Vitriol on a User in Britain" in The New York Times this morning, I think I need to bash my face against this desk until I lose consciousness.
But first... the story.
The Times piece provides an account of some madness that ensued on Twitter over the weekend -- a spat between a guy called "Brumplum" on Twitter and the actor and author (and Tweeter) Stephen Fry. After @brumplum posted on Twitter that he "admires and adores" Fry but finds his Tweets "boring," the actor became upset and said he might abandon Twitter altogether:
stephenfry: @brumplum You've convinced me. I'm obviously not good enough. I retire from Twitter henceforward. Bye everyone.
God. How awful. As if global terrorism wasn't bad enough, now Stephen Fry's feelings are hurt by a digital stranger? How much more can we stand?!
The rest of the Twittersphere agreed that this was a serious injustice. Fry's Tweet prompted thousands of Tweeters to use their 140 characters to spew venom toward @brumplum for being such a callous soul.
This person seemed particularly upset:
TNTGoesBOOOOM: @brumplum RIGHT YOU [expletive] RETARDED [expletive] FACE HOW DARE U CALL @stephenfry Boring he is not so take wat u said back or il come and BEAT U UP
TNTGoesBOOOOM: EVERYBODY BE NASTY TO @brumplum he was mean to @stephenfry calling him boring when stephenfry s so not
There are a few things that are really egregious about this whole scenario, apart from the aforementioned Tweeter's attempts at spelling. But let's start with this quote from The New York Times:
It was an example once again of the extraordinary power of Twitter to distribute information and to sway the opinions of vast groups of people in tiny amounts of time.
Really? Is that what it was?
Because I thought it was an example, "once again," of the collective idiocy that collaborates on Twitter with no purpose other than to play up each other's insignificance to a point that it somehow gains notoriety. Speaking of which, I thought this was ALSO an example, once again, of the disgraceful way in which journalists jump to turn Twitter conversations into news stories.
Twitter gets more than enough news coverage. The sheer hype surrounding the service is embarrassing. Yet established news organization like The New York Times and the BBC repeatedly craft stories out of any mindless activity that occurs on the site and chalk it up to Twitter's "extraordinary power." This continued attention paid to what the Tweeters are doing, as if they're some alien species inhabiting the earth -- and not just regular people wasting their days away on the Internet -- is journalism at its saddest.
And just in case you were worried, based on their recent Twitter activity, it looks as if @brumplum and @stephenfry have made up:
stephenfry: @brumplum I am so sorry to hear ppl have been abusing you. You had every right to say what you did. Pls accept my apols. This is so awful.
brumplum: @stephenfry Thanks. Can we all be friends again? *tweet favourited* (I have an ego as big as the next man!) ;-)
stephenfry: @brumplum You bet. Thank you for being so understanding. I feel more sheepish than a sheep
More sheepish than a sheep? Huh. @Brumplum was right. That is pretty boring!
Hey Jwallace. I didn't see "V." Though I'm interested in your UFO sighting. Regarding the article, I completely agree it was a snooooozer. No news what-so-ever.
Just who is this Stephen Fry? He's not on my "A" list of actors, actresses, and celebrities to be paying any attention to!!
Nicole, I think you hit it on the head, Twitter is little more than a futurized electronic world-wide update of the old passing the rumor note around school frenzy that most but apparently not all of us were supposed to grow out of...
With the 'Net so invasive in most peoples lives growing up really is becoming hard to do.
(As someone once wrote and sang in a song of some vague popularity...)
"as if they're some alien species inhabiting the earth"
Did you watch "V" last night? I'm assuming that this isn't the best time or place to mention my unquestionable UFO sighting experience.
"After reading an article entitled "A Tweet Unleashes Vitriol on a User in Britain" in The New York Times this morning, I think I need to bash my face against this desk until I lose consciousness"
That article was incredibly boring to me...I wasn't able to finish it and was not sure if it was the time of the day as to why I couldn't get past the first paragraph.
I would read his answers with a great pleasure if somebody tells him that he is boring. Stephen Fry seems to be a gentleman. You know, on one hand, I totally agree with you, this all situation sounds extremely idiotic ( now I can see why people committed suicides after some stupid commentaries on line).On the other, well, the Internet prefers pretty sarcastic language, so when a guy stops being sarcastic, ironic and aggressive...well, ok. I give up...It looks sooo pathetic. Sorry, Stephen Fry, I love you as an actor, but after reading your 2 books and tweeter, I have to admit.Your writing is boring (let's hope he doesn't know about IE, otherwise, he will send a letter with apologies and so on:))))
I believe twitter to have extraordinary power...when its working(real time search was down today).
While standing in front of the customer service kiosk at the grocery store, a phone call came in asking the clerk if their starbucks had wi-fi. She simply said no, hung up and NEGLECTED to tell the caller that there is an actual starbucks within 100 meters of the grocery chain with wi-fi. The point of me conveying my observation? (drum roll please).
Real time search coupled with location based tweets might have solved that caller's issue. okay wait, that was kinda lame. I was attempting to overlay real life social search with the web's social search. The caller was only one step away from obtaining relevant bull's eye results. I think the web's social search is very similar. Results tailored for each individual with the likes and dislikes of their social peers on similar results/search terms. going back to my point. if I were to tweet, can someone recommend a coffee shop of their choice close to me? with the twitter location api, perhaps my followers who are familiar with my current location would tweet back with their thoughts and location.
next up:
Local police officers utilize twitter for faster safe keeping.
"It was an example once again of the extraordinary power of Twitter": i.e., even a boring (and somewhat sheepish) celebrity twitterer can make headlines. I bet this "non-event" generates a lot more publicity for @stephenfry than he ever hopes to get from his boring tweets. There goes the power of Twitter as a PR tool - before we know it, more celebrities will threaten to retire from Twitter just to get some attention. But, is it really a non-event? I thought if it was covered, it could no longer be a non-event whether it seems idiotic or not. Non-events are ones that don't get coverage by definition. And, I have no problem discussing this kind of issues - I don't know about Twitter having extraordinary power, but I think we've seen Twitter can be pretty unpredictable, and its potential should neither be underestimated nor dismissed...just yet! If it's Internet-related, we discuss!
I also think there's a greater issue here in all of this Twitter talk. As this is a site about the future of the Internet, whenever I read this fluffy Twitter coverage I can't help but think of it as problematic. People are so focused on Twitter's potential and how to leverage Twitter to make the most of it, and they examine it like it's going to be some saving grace. I kind of want to scream "snap out of it!" and implore people to innovate in other areas. So rather than jump on the Twitter bandwagon, I think it's important to balance the scale. Keep the masses somewhat lucid.
Funny, DavidS. The only thing I'd add though is that it isn't so much that Twitter is written about a lot that bothers me. It's that it's written about from such a positive angle. The story is always the same: "just another example of Twitter's power/potential," etc. My objective is usually to expose how idiotic that is.
Now JD, I in no way was pointing a specific finger. Like you, I think that Twitter gets an unduly amount of coverage. But as you say, it does make amusing fodder. ;-/
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