On Tweeting

Tweeting is something I started doing a while back, and now think I'll use mainly to follow a few public figures and try and persuade people to read this blog...

Anyhow twittering and blogging both seems to me like shouting into a darkened room, or from a fell top.. never sure there is anyone there listening, and I'm never sure I'll continue. Neither is a replacement for proper 2 way discource, though blogging is at least practise for my writing.

Which brings me to the news story yesterday that Stephen Fry is going to give up tweeting because someone said his tweets were boring. Now I'll have to be very careful here unless Mr Fry ever reads these words (which does seem very unlikely), and the most important thing here is he isn't at all boring. He is one of the handful of public figure I would mourn as a friend, he'd be top of my list for that fantasy dinner part, I'll watch just about anything on TV with him on. You'll get the picture. Some of his tweets are, well, of less interest, he tells us when he's off to bed for example. But if his tweets are boring then thats a comment on the medium.

The surprising thing about the story is that he knows this already. I recently read a quote from him expanding on the essential triviality of the medium. Of course, he is also open about his medical condition, and I'm in no position to advise on how he should cope with that. I'd have thought he has always been well advised to steer well clear of his critical notices during his 'down time'. A little extention to the tweetsphere (is that whats its called?) seems appropriate.

And maybe a look at the other tweets by the tweeter who started all this might be appropriate, as I doubt they mainatain a high level of interest. I hope I will use Tweeting as a means of bringing forth my 'wit' and 'bon mons' though no doubt my standards will slip from time to time. Saying the obvious - like I'm off to bed, or 'Twittering is sometimes boring' is all part of the scene, it seems, but these comments need to be taken for what they are.