Twitter: The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

In the 21st century world of celebrities being scrutinised by a press with lowering standards of ethics, was it ever wise for these celebrities to join a social networking site that enables this scrutinyto increase further?

Twitter as a phenomenon is continually growing, and more and more of the nation’s sports stars, television personalities and important people are joining the site and allowing everyone who chooses to virtually ‘follow’ them in their everyday lives. I’m only twenty, but I feel old enough
to say that, in my day, if I said I was following Holly Willoughby, the police would be round very quickly. However, safety in numbers now appears to make this acceptable, as I’m one of more than 1.9 million people following @hollywills via Twitter.

It is the subject of sports stars on Twitter that has sparked my desire to write this blog though, so I shall cut to the chase. The stereotype footballer is a man with very little brain power who through stupid decisions, or just looking a bit thick, opens himself up to the expected abuse
in the national press and in everyday conversations across the country. Surely then, allowing them to express opinions and update the nations sports fans with anecdotes of their day will be a nightmare full of ill-judged comments and mind numbing boredom?

Prolific ‘tweeter’ Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5), both falls into, and challenges the stereotype. From what I can gather, Rio spends an awful lot of time asleep or eating Nando’s. However, he also uses Twitter wisely, to offer opinions, correct any misinterpretations of himself or his
family (most recently regarding the John Terry race-row and the public abuse of his brother Anton), and to create the brand that will see Rio stay famous, and relevant in the game when he retires from playing.

Fellow Manchester United players Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) and Tom Cleverley (@TomClevz23) often fall very easily into the mind-numbing bracket through their competition in popular game ‘Temple Run’, but even they are performing a service to their fans by providing an insight into their lives, and Wayne Rooney has also been able to use his account to correct
unfounded speculation regarding his future at United. On the subject of Manchester United footballers on Twitter, Michael Owen (@themichaelowen) has followed team mates into this particular cyber world.

Last Wednesday, England, in their first game since the departure of manager Fabio Capello, were defeated 3-2 by Holland at Wembley Stadium, and Owen’s response was to innocently suggest that this was surely disappointing. In the Friday edition of Tabloid newspaper The Sun, Owen was misquoted as having said England flopped and an uproar about his apparent criticism followed. Not only was this a piece of journalism typical of 21st century tabloids, but it was also heavily influenced by ex-tabloid editor, and Twitter grammar-Nazi Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) incessant attempts to put down those more famous or popular than himself.

In this instance, Twitter has proven, however well used by the individual, to be another medium of misquoting and negatively representing the nations celebrities and sports stars in a way that sells papers, but degrades the celebrity in question, and lets down the profession of journalism.
So my advice to the people in question would be as follows; Michael Owen and fellow celebrity Tweeters should be prepared to be misquoted as they have had to be when giving any kind of interview before hand, Piers Morgan should probably break the habit of a life time and keep he’s conceited and confrontational opinions to himself, and the journalist responsible for the Michael Owen story, Paul Jiggins, should be ashamed of himself and his ethically challenged methods.
I will on this occasion though, conclude on a positive note.

Another footballer to express his dissatisfaction about the general acceptance of England’s defeat at Wembley was Joey Barton (@joey7barton). Joey has had a chequered past to say the least, and is most commonly known for his alcohol fuelled indiscretions outside of the sport, rather than the skill and application that he has shown on the field. An accusation that cannot be thrown
at Barton, however, is that he befits any of the stereotypes mentioned above. Since joining Twitter recently (now seemingly rehabilitated and having given up the alcohol that haunted his past), Barton has shown himself to be opinionated and occasionally confrontational, but articulate and educated too. Twitter has been part of his rehabilitation process as he has attempted to show his true character, rather than the one portrayed in the tabloids. He also wrote an article for the Times earlier this year, which I highly recommend reading, in which he described the way Twitter has helped him rebuild his reputation.

What cannot be denied is that Twitter is here to stay for a while. It certainly provides a service to celebrities, and like the press, good coverage comes with the danger of bad coverage. For everyone else, it provides a platform for their thoughts, and an insight into those of their heroes and idols, this can surely only be a good thing, even if these insights can be
grossly misrepresented.