I’m thrilled to see Oliver James, Arik Sigman and others taking the effort to slag off Twitter specifically and social networking in general in the mainstream media over the past couple of weeks. If you’ve missed any of the pieces, Lloyd Davis has done a great write up and Johnnie Moore posted an excellent Newsnight clip.
The idea that these tools can rot your brain is absolutely genius and a topnotch PR company couldn’t have done a better job in getting the word out. If any ‘kids’ had doubts about using Twitter and/ or other social tools; if for some reason, they hadn’t heard of them or simply weren’t interested, now they have the impetus they need to find out more.
Where would Elvis have been if parents across the American Mid-West hadn’t thought his hip moves subversive? What would have happened to The Sex Pistols if they’d taken all that effort to swear at Bill Grundy on live TV and no-one had minded? Would Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax have made it to the top of the UK charts if DJ Mike Read hadn’t branded the track “disgusting” and ensured an airplay ban on BBC Radio One?
With all this negative press, Twitter loses nothing. Instead it gains a credible place in popular culture.