TWITTER-The gen next social network, a boon or a bane??

Pondering about what to write and how to start, when suddenly I realised that I should write about how I got into social networking, blogging and as a kind of introduction and after being exposed to it so much also the fact whether it is a boon or a bane?

Got hooked on to twitter when I found out that a person whom I very well admire i.e. Shashi Tharoor was one of the first politicosto come onto twitter. To think of those days and now, when he has almost had to quit his job due to many reasons (and also some fiascos on twitter), it makes me wonder that is twitter after all a boon or a bane? Citing the same example of Shashi Tharoor-Lalit Modi and the fiascos that they’ve had which have cost them their jobs, one thinks whether we are enclosing too much? Is there a line to draw? Should we think twice before posting something on twitter because once its out there, even if you delete it afterwards, it will be seen by atleast a few?

TWITTER – A POWERFUL TOOL -THE GOOD & THE BAD

Twitter is a very powerful tool, most of the worlds important people- celebrities,politicians,actors,musicians,bloggers,writers critics and also important news organizations are there and are in direct contact with millions of “followers” being ordinary people.

Good in the sense that all those celebrities etc. are there for YOU to contact directly and be in touch with,this being the only nice thing. This being the only nice thing doesn’t lessen its importance!! It is very nice and humbling to see a mention, DM (direct message) or a RT (Retweet) from your favourite singer/writer or actor!

Now, the bad possibilities – BAD takes a whole new meaning with celebrities and important organisations being in direct contact. Famous people obviously do not have the time to reply individually to each and every one of their followers, which results in hate mail, people using abusive language and in turn celebrities get hyper/irritated (like sonu niigam, one abusive soul on twitter) which end up in people leaving twitter finally!! There is also a possibility of an individual, say a fan of a celebrity not liking the information he’s getting from/about the celebrity from his/her account on twitter. Everyone has personal/individual tastes and may/may not like how the celebrity is in real life. Again citing an example of how some people were taken aback by sonu niigam’s boldness and brash comments about a journalist on twitter.

Mental Firewall

Keeping both of these in mind, the conclusion that I have drawn and even follow myself (being a twitter addict) is that though there is an urge to disclose and discuss everything, there should be a “mental firewall” in one’s mind that allows himself/herself to distinguish good tweets/twitter users from bad and also keep a tab on what personal/private information he/she is posting. Personally speaking, my mental firewall does not allow me to activate location based tweeting which gives out the person’s exact location on twitter, I find it too intrusive!!!

Keep tweeting and be safe :)