Yesterday lunchtime I was munching a sandwich and trawling through my Twitter timeline when I spotted a comment that made me smile and prompted me to hit the reply button. The reply was, I thought, an inoffensive quotation from Oscar Wilde that was slightly sarcastic but, given that the author of the original tweet was a comedy actor and writer, I hoped would make the recipient smile in the same way. But how wrong could I be. A swift counter-reply came with a hint of sarcasm in which I detected that I had somehow offended the tweeter. So, priding myself on being a generally inoffensive kind of gal and having never written a tweet in anger or to intentionally offend, I was quick to respond with two tweets indicating that I had intended my reply to be sarcastic, complimenting the tweeter and attempting a very weak joke. Then came another reply in which it became apparent that I had caused deep offence and – worst of all – it wasn’t a straight ‘f**k off and die’ kind of reply (which would have prompted exactly the same response) but a sad, reflective kind of comment that made me feel horrifically guilty, as though I had drop-kicked a puppy across a field.
The incident made me realise two things about Twitter, particularly celebrities on Twitter. First, Twitter messages are subject to the same dangers of misinterpretation that text messages are wont to suffer. Who hasn’t sent a text message that sounds all tinkly bells and giggles when you type it, only to discover later – when face-to-face with the recipient - that they are convinced that you have fallen out with them, or even worse, that you’re about to hunt them down and viciously beat them? Second, there are two types of celebrities on Twitter. The first is the genuinely pleasant individual who finds him or herself unnecessarily bombarded with crap from hecklers 24/7. How many tweeters out there spent hours trolling twitter with the sole purpose of sending offensive messages to celebrities just to upset their day? And how do these celebs cope – how does anyone cope – with a shedload of criticism dropping into their inbox each time they fire up Twitter? Stephen Fry, for example, is inclined to quit Twitter and reappear at random times. And who can blame him? He has millions of followers and I’m pretty sure that not all of them are nice-as-pie internet users who send complimentary and amusing observations about his travels in Africa. He must get more trolls than anyone. Matt Lucas handled an offensive tweeter very well earlier this week. When confronted with a tweet criticising a recent project, Matt ‘accidently’ retweeted the offending tweet to his followers, thereby opening the comment up for discussion. Touché, Mr. Lucas! I would be inclined to do exactly the same!
I have, however, noticed that there is a second type of celebrity on Twitter that has a much lower tolerance level for any whisker of disapproving sentiment. There are certain celebrities on Twitter who seem to be entirely incapable of accepting criticism in any form. These incidents do not usually come to my attention unless an argument kicks off between two individuals in my timeline (and I’m not on Twitter very often at all) but once in a while it becomes apparent to everyone that a tantrum is being thrown. It appears that some individuals have their twitter feed mainlined straight to their ego and bask gloriously in praise from their fans, only to spectacularly throw their toys out of the pram the very second that someone asks a question, raises a difficult issue or suggests some kind of improvement to a project or their modesty. From what I can tell there are very few celebrities who suffer from this kind of ‘Twitter ego massaging’, but they are out there. And in these cases I relax my sympathies. They deserve the reality check.
To make matters worse in my particular case, I hear that the tweeter I replied to yesterday is now threatening to quit Twitter. How much more terrible do I feel now?! I realise that I am not the cause of this and the individual must regularly receive a number of offending tweets that have led to this decision, but I can’t help but feel (unintentionally) partly responsible. While it is difficult to determine whether the individual in question belongs to the ‘genuine nice guy/girl’ or ‘ego massaging’ breed of tweeters, I have apologised profusely because I realise that I am to blame and I hold the individual in high esteem and adore their work – which was exactly why I was following their tweets in the first place! I can only hope that this show of contrition convinces them that it was an ill-judged joke and I’m not a random cretin hell-bent on sending deeply offensive comments every hour of the day and night.
So take my advice and think twice before tweeting someone in the public eye. If they are of the ego massaging variety then fire away - you are entitled to your opinion and no twitterer should be shielded from criticism, as long as it is an honest sentiment and not deliberately engineered to cause offence. But bear in mind the genuine, Fry-eque characters on Twitter. Not only can inadvertently offending these people lead to crushing guilt of magnificent proportions, but if these individuals in particular become offended, disillusioned and leave, then the Twitterverse is going to become a very boring place…
