When Twitter Gets Personal!

Most of you would know how Pro-Twitter I am, okay so don’t start throwing daggers at me! I know I’m obsessed to say the very least.The social networking site is amazing honestly by logging onto Twitter, average Joes and Jane’s around the world have direct access to communication with anyone ranging from colleagues and peers to Oscar winning actors straight through to academic elites.



I recently wrote an article about the great influence twitter has had upon journalism and the media in general and I’m currently working on getting it published!!! (Actually I might upload my article here sometime soon) The fact that twitter enabled me to gain an interview with one of Australia's most successful radio broadcasters (LOVE HER) Jackie O is amazing considering I received a reply within 2 minutes! Not to mention I was able to send the link of my blog to (MY IDOL) the one and only Nedahl Stelio (former editor of Cleo and Cosmopolitan) and have her not only VIEW IT but reply!



Basically for those of you who have been living under a rock or assume Facebook is about as technical as you can get, 'tweeters' are limited to just 140 characters, each post is sent directly to the main page of each user ready for them to view it each time they have signed in. Depending on how many people you are ‘following’ the updates change within seconds, specifically with the pages of news publications ....and the likes of MILEY CYRUS and Paris Hilton who seriously do nothing but tweet all day! haha but I must admit I cannot bring myself to unfollow them as they are quite entertaining.


But it seems the use of twitter has recently been taken to a whole new level with Perez Hilton opting to twitter alarming tweets such as, “I’m in shock. I need the police ASAP. Please come to the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel now. Please." Perez also declared, "I was assaulted by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke.5:36 PM Jun 22nd ." It took the Toronto police under an hour to arrive at the scene, as perez twittered, " The Toronto police are here now. Thank you. Please stop calling them.6:16 PM Jun 22nd."

Now as daunting as this situation was for Perez, considering the poor guy has probably never been hit by a fly, the most disturbing factor I concluded from this situation was not the fact that Perez was physically abused by a member of Will.I.Am's entourage but that Perez was able to tweet about this incident at such a distressing time!

But Perez insisted that he called the police BEFORE he had Tweeted about it, simply because, "They were not showing up," and he "felt helpless." That word HELPLESS really jumped out to me! In fact I read over his post again and as my mind began to ponder for a minute or two I realised, okay so the internet is a great medium, it is fast, accessible and reaches a mass audience.We all know that but soon my mind came to a complete hault and I was left with two thoughts:

a) The Canadian Police Emergency system was just as slow as Australia's

AND

b) Twitter has expanded beyond belief, gone are the days when it was used for members of the business world and for celebrities to communicate with their fans. Apparently it has now become a service for contacting the police?



Look I am all for social networking sites, but seriously should Twitter be used for such important means?? Well don’t get too excited, my blog has not yet come to an end as I have one more essential incident to report regarding Twitter and its ever expanding use.



I was recently at a social gathering whereby I was explaining the world of Twitter to a girlfriend and I specifically remember (over exaggerating as I do) yelling, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TWITTER IS? I LIVE FOR TWITTER!"
Fortunately I made this innocent comment during conversation but unfortunately it actually became a reality as I stumbled across an article featured in a popular Austrian online newspaper 'Austriantimes.com.' The article read as follows, “A teenage girl was electrocuted after dropping her laptop into the bath as she twittered in the tub." If this news wasn't heartbreaking enough, I read on "Police said they believed Maria Barbu, 17, had tried to plug in her laptop with wet hands after the battery died during a long session on social networking site Twitter as she took a soak at her home in Brasov, central Romania...She was found dead by her parents with the laptop lying next to her."


After reading this article I was absolutely devastated to say the least. I know I am usually one to laugh at awkward situations YES even deaths and by all means feel free to call me heartless but somehow I am human and I have two main reactions, I either: a) cry or b) laugh.

Well this was not a laughing matter and I am sorry to report such morbid news but honestly let this be a lesson for us all, whether we over use Facebook/Twitter or even my blog (yes I'm sure you are desperate enough to read my blog in the bathtub)- okay cruel joke but seriously people, its fine to make use of the technology we have access to but every now and then remember that you don’t need to live for technology.


Abi xxx (B.T.W. I wrote a novel if your eyes are a bit watery God bless you for reading the whole blog)