Twittering away

I know we all lead more vicarious lives than ever, but I have the feeling that this particular tide may be at it's highest ebb. My thoughts were triggered by the story that the young actress who plays 'Hanna Montana' in a teens / kids TV programme, has stopped her twitter account. Now I know a number of other bloggers like Tom Reynolds do Twitter, but then they have really interesting jobs that give them new material on an hour by hour basis. There's an immediacy about it, a rawness that stimulates or even tittliates (Or 'Twittilates', groan. Sorry).

I don't have a Twitter account, never really saw the point. Most of my 'tweets' would just vanish off into cyberspace only to haunt me if hauled up in front of the beak because said 'tweets' put me near the scene of a crime. That's a thought, is Twitter admissible evidence in a court of law? Anyone?

This is being written from a point of relative ignorance, but I really don't see the point. Can a 'tweet' that I've snagged my line or my line's got tangled while fishing help me unsnag or untangle my line? No? As for the writing, well, I always think that if I tell everyone every single bloody thing that I'm doing, I won't get time to do it properly. When writing you don't ask advice every five minutes or you disrupt your thoughtflow and never end up with anything meaningful. In the workaday I find it better to talk things over with real live colleagues who can actually see what you're trying to do rather than have to explain it in mini messages with a bunch of strangers, who, while enthusiastic and interested, may not understand and pepper you with 'advice'.

With regard to celebrities I suppose it's different, although I personally wouldn't like to live my life in a goldfish bowl, with everything you see and do up for public scrutiny. For me, visitors can get in the way of what I'm trying to do which eats up an otherwise productive working day, rather like constant meetings used to. Nothing really got done, it was often just filibustering and procrastination. However, slebs are human mannikins which we dress (and have dressed for us) in our own dreams of escape from workaday drudgery. The glitter distracts and diverts. Having the immediacy of mini 'tweets' must give the sensation that we are living their 'glamorous' lives. Although I really don't want to know that they're shooting the cat, or going to the toilet. However, there seems to be an audience for said stuff, so who am I to judge?

For such a high profile Disney 'celebrity' to stop 'twittering' is I think a relatively big deal. Her fans certainly seem to think so, and have a 'come back miley' hashtag doing the rounds. The point is, will this harm her career? Possibly not, as twitter can strip away the necessary mystique of celebrity and bring it crunching down to earth. For what is a celebrity? Someone who can do one particular thing very well, or can articulate a common thread? Are they more than human? Does twitter detract or enhance their distance from the rest of us mere mortals? Dunno pal.

In light of the above, has Ms Cyrus made the right choice? I'm not sure, although suffice it to say she is the first of the high profile 'non-twitterers', and being the first in celebrity circles will do her no real harm at all.

Update: Have just had an e-mail soliciting Twitter membership from a Ms Jessica Jones. Did I say I wanted to join? No? The originating domain has just gone on my spam filter.

While I'm thinking about it, I've come across a certain pompous troll (Aen't they all?) who is currently slagging off Inspector Gadget and P C Bloggs on the various Libertarian blogs. For this particular person, here is a personal message; if you happen to come sniffing around here cur, your comments will be automatically ridiculed when identified. Calling people 'cowards' for not wanting to be fired for writing about their work is hardly laudable. Remember, 'outing' cuts both ways, and the truth has a wicked edge.