OUTRAGE! vrs You Can Say Anything You Like on Twitter

I'm a big fan of Twitter.
I think it's a really great way to keep up to date with a whole host of different sets of interests and friends and hobbies and family.

It's not perfect however, through no fault of Twitter itself.
There are cultures forming that are quite opposite that are both equally irritating.

1) Faux outrage(!)
At least a couple of times per day I'm now seeing someone outraged at something they've seen in the media. Get a grip. If you read something on the internet that starts your hackles rising, ask yourself these two questions before you wade in with your own comments.
a) Am I actually offended by this myself, in person, on behalf of a loved one or professionally? Imagined offence by an unknown third party doesn't count.
b) Am I being trolled? There are many people out there who just want to cause offence. No, I don't know why either, but there you are. If you've been offended by something a Troll has said, ignore it. An angry reply is exactly what they want. An example is the Daily Mail, any page you like, or online. Its whole purpose is to make you outraged - don't let it. Right, that's outrage dealt with. Now the opposite.

2) You Can Say Anything You Like on Twitter.
I don't understand why otherwise sensible, clever people feel the need to make outrageous comments on the web. It happens everywhere, but Twitter is worst, maybe because its limit of 140 characters can lead people to edit all the facts out of their insightful comment before it's posted. The nature of retweets doesn't help. Don't assume you can make a whole big point on twitter in twenty consecutive tweets, coz someone might take the middle one and retweet it out of context. You know the one, it's the tweet that looks like a soundbite with no facts in it.

I had a fairly mild disagreement with a fellow tweeter last night. If I'd followed my own advise in point one above I would never have commented, and if he'd followed my advice in point two then it wouldn't have happened anyway.

So, to sum up, can we all please try to avoid offending anyone, and being offended.
Thanks.


Want do you think? Let me know in the comments.

That was 2012

Well, 2012 certainly seemed to be a celebratory year for Britain, and London didn't it? I'm glad that we played our part and have many great memories, particularly of the Olympics.

How did I do with my targets?
I can't imagine getting my Walk, Run, Swim, Cycle annual figure up to the year, but I beat 2011s 1,550 miles by about 60, having intended to add at least one mile per week. That seemed a sensible improvement, so same again I think, meaning effectively a target of about 1,700 miles in 2013. I can't say this is having much effect on my weight, but I'm feeling fit and strong-relatively, at least, and the pool on Ironmonger Row is open again so fingers crossed for more swimming.

I'm getting quite an online presence now, although I probably don't need to tell you that, as your reading this. The blog gets an update now every couple of months, which is fine. Certainly not about to start daily updates.
I've relaxed into Twitter, going from just a handful of followers this time last year to over 300 today. I tweet a couple of times a day on average about anything and everything.
I did quite a lot to keep my Gooedreads account up to date, finally doing all my comic books in the last couple of days. It's getting to the point where it's an accurate representation of my library. It thinks I read 15 books in 2012 but it missed a few due to the way it works - ill be careful in 2013 to add them properly so we get the real figure. It will never be more than 1 a fortnight, so I'm guessing 25 for 2013.

No other specific targets for e year other than enforcing the one I didn't do very well last year - at least two days per week with NO alcohol.

And I've been writing almost all year and some of it is actually getting quite good.

2012 was a pretty good year on reflection, here's to hoping 2013 is better for YOU, regardless of how good your 2012 was.