Monday 7 February 2011

Twitter - Connection or Privacy?

I think twitter is brilliant. I'm am an out and out fan. As I've probably said on here on several occasions It's connected me to lots of people I would never have otherwise met. Fellow writers, slimming worlders, open university students and just some genuinely lovely people. 

It has also created a world where celebrities, be they minor league or A list, feel that little bit closer to us and more human, more real. Some even use twitter to converse with us ordinary folk. I must say, just because it excited me so much, that Dave Vitty of Chris Moyles radio show and Dancing on Ice fame, replied to my tweets twice on Sunday. Twitter makes the world smaller, turns the celebs into real people rather than untouchable people we just see on the tv and a bit if fun is had, as well as issues shared. 

Some celebs however, tend to go a little over the top on twitter. Giving us high dramas told in real time. These outbursts make me smile. It's the Internet. The press are watching with their beady eyes just waiting for that slip, and they do invariably come, because those celebs, well, they really are people. 

Do we come to expect people to share their issues in public though? We love it and we soak it in. If we didn't the press wouldn't be as determined as they can be to get stories. Do the celebs who tweet feel they owe us their honesty once they start?

I'm only asking this after reading in one of the national papers, outpourings of support for Amanda Holden and her family after the loss of their baby boy. One of the things I noticed was half the quotes of support were from twitter feeds and now I raise the question, is this appropriate? 

If the celebs offering support know Amanda then surely a text, a card, some flowers would be more appropriate and more personal at such a time? I tweeted that it was a terrible loss, but I don't know her and I didn't send it to her. It's very personal. 

Are the celebs who tweeted sympathy also doing the private card/flower buying thing, but feeling pressured to show they care in such a public inane way as twitter because this is the world we are now entering. If they don't tweet her their sympathy then it looks as though they don't care because we can't see it?!

Are we taking it too far and expecting too much or is it right that the very painful loss of a child, be shared like it belongs to all? 

2 comments:

  1. What I have come to learn is that, while ‘celebrities’ are are just people, the addiction to fame often outweighs most sensibilities. The old adage any publicity is good publicity still holds true today.

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  2. Absolutely. I don't think they can help themselves. We often put some celebs on a pedestal and forget that once, they had ordinary lives like you and I and that they can get taken up with their celedom.

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