I really didn’t have this post planned at all, but the past few days have seen Twitter making headlines for all the wrong reasons. We all know the Troll bit, but the bits of this whole affair that has stood out for me are the timelines of columnists Caitlin Moran and India Knight (whose account at the last look had been deleted*). I think it rather shows that yes, you do have to mind what you say in any public forum, and there isn’t really a great deal of freedom on Twitter at all if you never want to be called out on what you say. Whether you *should* have to mind what you say is a wider debate (and if we are going down the freedom of speech thought, then it may equally apply to Trolling, although exclude threats of rape, bombs and other violence which hurtle their authors into a whole other realm), but the bottom line is that Tweeting should be done as carefully as writing a letter or a blog post. You need to be damn sure you are prepared for the consequences if you’re being very free with what you are saying on certain subjects.
If you have a lot of followers or are in the public eye this is exacerbated because there’s pretty much nothing the media loves more than Tweets that go wrong. If you’re a regular user the Caitlin story is typical and something we’ve all (us non-celebs) seen in non-celeb world. It happens within Twitter communities all the time and is nothing new. Tweets are taken out of context and added up to much more than they originally were; one ill-thought out comment can spiral out of control leading to chaos while the original Tweeter painfully tries to explain, after due course of defiance, and eventually capitulates and apologises (Caitlin) or deletes their account (India).
Caitlin Moran and India Knight are there to challenge (although I have far more time for Caitlin than India) popular opinion. That’s what they do. However, having a shed load of followers does give some the god-complex – great while the going is good and absolutely dreadful when the tide turns. The reality is that being snide about having ‘a column’ when a fellow Tweeter ‘only has a blog’ (India) is the kind of thing that people who sit on a self-imposed pedestal say and nobody loves a condescending bragger. It’s exactly that kind of Tweet that turns a friendly tide, never mind the Trolls.
Trolling is vile and so are the dreadful rape threat, misogynistic Tweets. But in the middle of these awful degrees of Tweeting lie the columnists who pretty much will only condescend to Tweet each other but allow hundreds of thousands of people to view the conversations. (Just send a text!) They want to be seen but not to have to play nicely with the rest of us. I’m so proud to have the followers that I do but while it is almost irresistibly easy to Tweet out fury into the ether, I genuinely try to Tweet responsibly and certainly without a superior attitude. There are things, sometimes, I want to say on Twitter that I have to button my lip on. On a very rare occasion, my patience was pushed. But I’m aware that that’s pretty much there for ever (especially as a student started a blog and posted the entire conversation on it – as part of a thesis.. whatever) but I’d go to long lengths to ensure it doesn’t happen again (although I could never say never).
Understanding Twitter is understanding that it’s more about what you don’t say than what you do. Try and think of that friendly little bird logo as something that can sh*t on you from a great height rather than placidly take crumbs from your hand.
* At the time of writing India Knight’s Twitter feed was ‘not found’ on searches and thought to have closed down. She is now tweeting again.
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8 comments
Well said! If you wouldn’t shout it out in the street, then don’t put it out there on Twitter.
I have seen blogger friendships break over the tweet that went wrong, It’s more mature to walk away than feed the troll, because that’s what they want in the first place. I fully agree with the first comment, if you won’t shout it in the street then don’t put it in social media.
I don’t follow any of those columnist tweeters so I don’t know what the story is here but I can imagine. But agree, it’s a bit tacky all the celeb-y, backslappy tweeters only communicating with each other like they’re in some virtual, glass-walled VIP room. That alone needs to stop!
I keep in mind what playwright Oscar Wilde said “never commit to paper anything you wouldn’t want to see made published”. It was germane in the 19th century and its germane now.
India’s account has not been deleted. And I have to say, she tweeted me a couple of times, even though I don’t know her personally, and I’m not a celeb. But I agree: it’s all too easy to vent your anger/frustration on social media, and I had to stop myself plenty of times.
Anna at the time of writing, the account had gone.. I have seen its back up now.
Leaving aside the issue of the horribly misogynistic tweets for a second, I agree with you totally re: celeb tweeters who don’t engage with ‘their’ public (or do so only to mock or be flattered). Fangirl confession here: I’ve had a couple of tweets from you when I’ve asked questions and I couldn’t really get my head around the fact that I got such fast and friendly responses (and with really helpful info as well!). To me, you’re also in the ‘celeb tweeter’ category (hence my amazement at being able to ASK YOU STUFF AND GET A REPLY!) and you’re also a blogger who seems to span the divide between having a professional social media presence and a ‘real life’ one particularly well for your audience. I don’t quite know how you balance the private you and the public one from your end but you manage it very well for your audience, IMO: I love the reflections on professional blogging/beauty work in your blog as much as the ‘consumption’ style posts about what’s available now, and your twitter presence seems to dovetail with that balancing act really neatly, too. I’m not sure I can think of anyone who’s doing quite the same thing as a beauty blogger at the moment, which makes this blog really interesting in terms of social media use as well as beauty news 🙂
So, yeah. I think this is basically a long-winded thank you post!
Thank you so much Anna… I genuinely enjoy Twitter and love talking to people and think it is just manners to try and reply to anyone who bothers to tweet me. I see it as part and parcel of my on-line life but had to make the decision about whether to ‘live social’ or not. I decided to go for it and I think, almost like learning a new language, the immersion method is best. It’s not something that can be done half-heartedly, and plus I never take any of it for granted. I don’t use to ‘profile-raise’ or any such nonsense.. I do it because I like it, and the by-product of liking it is that it drives stats to my blog. You can only really hear what people say if you are prepared to listen and the social journey is one of constant listening and conversing – I love what I learn. SO, thank you so much for your kind comment. x