It seems that possibly the most influential and high profile tweeter – Stephen Fry , has quit.
Seemingly in response to an earlier tweet , Stephen Fry has decided to quit due to too much unkindness. This is a serious amount of pressure on that one person who, not surprisingly, is a little surprised at the outcome of his actions. As equally unsurprising, Twitter is not letting Stephen go without a fight. Run a search for stephenfry and you can see the support pouring in. At the time of writing (11:15pm on Saturday) there’s around 100 updates a minute. Such support shows the strong community aspect that Twitter followers and indeed, what a popular man Stephen is. There are endless messages of support and calls for him to not to leave.
Twitter has also shown an uglier side this evening and I think we need to spare a thought for the person that supposedly started the response @brumplum . Do a search for his name on Twitter and you see a rather different response :
These tweets are just a couple of examples out there and I didn’t have to scroll that far to find them. Albeit that there is now a small level of support coming in for brumplum (Richard), this has shown a new side to Twitter. Let’s not forget that all this person has done was voice an opinion on Stephen Fry that was actually relatively tame and he has since apologised for his actions (and is consequently signing off Twitter until the morning. Can’t say I blame him).
What we’re seeing on Twitter this evening is really no different to mob mentality. Stephen Fry is being held up, defended and idolised, while an innocent person is being abused and slandered, for….. having an opinion. It seems that some people have lost sight of Twitter is all about and are using it to gang up and bully. I know I’ve certainly said far worse about famous people on Twitter and I would be shocked if I received the level of abuse that Richard has.
Twitter has certainly revealed a new side to itself tonight and I think we’re witnessing an interesting phenomenon in human behaviour. The tone of the supportive tweets for Stephen would suggest that the situation is more serious than it actually is and with most mob situations, the normal level of common sense has gone out the window amid the hysteria. His last tweet said that he would probably be back in a few days but clearly thousands feel they would be lost without him. I think he adds a lot to the space, but not at the expense of abusing others. Ironically, the very thing that prompted Stephen’s announcement in the first place.
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Think it’s more of a case of brumplum looking for his 15 mins of fame and Mr Fry who is a sensitive soul taking it all to seriously. I am pretty sure he will be back. To be honest this is why I avoid “celb” tweets and following them.
Hi Laura. I agree with you on following celebrities. There’s only a couple that I follow and I probably get the least out of them compare to everyone else I follow. I’m not sure brumplum was looking for his 15 minutes of fame as I doubt he could have predicted the outcome of his tweet! It looks like the two have since made up so hopefully it will all blow over soon
Hi:
I have to say that I am new to Twitter at least as far as using it for strictly business
I am not sure who is Stephen Fry but from what you are portraying is that he has been a bully himself now he is tasting the taste of his own medecine, what goes around comes around
If it is simply for someone voicing their opinion last time I checked this was a free country, freedom of speech
Again I am not sure who Stephen is so far my life has been going on without knowing who he is and will still go on, this is not an ugly side to Twitter this is an ugly side to human beings that have found themselves by hiding behind a screen till it became their whole life where they lost touch with real life which is very sad
Thank you for your blog
Hi Sahar. I’m not sure that Stephen Fry was being a bully as he can’t really be held responsible for how others are treating brumplum on Twitter. You’re spot on with your point on free speech and it certainly doesn’t give others the right to react as they did.
I just read an interesting article in today’s Sunday Times which bears out what you say about a mob mentality developing on Twitter.
Ah, I have the Sunday Times here. Will try and find it. What section was it in?
Hi Lauren,
Your probably right, but I think as friendly and carefree as we like to think Twitter is – it really is not. One slip up can lead to problems so it is all worth thinking about the tweet you are about to create. However I do think people have both overeacted and over stated the whole episode. Again if we were to take everything said to us in face to face conversations to heart we would never get anywhere. Pitch of salt is the best way to go I feel. I have today seen some people saying they are leaving Twitter Fry like and I think why tell everyone just go. I am not going to get into the game of saying oh stay stay. Think as always Simply Zesty brings a common sense to the whole debate and appluade you for that. You guys always strike the right balance.
Yeah, I think we saw a different side to Twitter last night, at least to some of the people that use it. I think that people often act differently online than they would online. I can’t imagine people would say some of those things to someone they just met, so why say them to someone off the back of one tweet? I certainly agree that it is a massive overreaction. I was wondering if we’d see people leave Twitter off the back of this and it’s interesting that you’ve seen this.
And thank you for your lovely comment at the end, it’s really nice of you
[...] Fry has caused a kerfuffle on the micro-blogging site leading to finger pointing and cries for the famous presenter, writer, pod-caster, actor, academic not to abandon his followers which number close to 1 million. [...]