Twitter partnerships offend “no one…and everyone?”

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

My feelings for Twitter are summed up in an entertaining four and a half minute video from Current: “Twouble with Twitters” (see link below).

While the content of this blog may seem ironic and slightly hypocritical, I find that the social network/micro-blogging service, Twitter, is just a bit extreme.  I don’t really understand why people feel the need to share that they are watching TV with their cat.  In instant message speak, we call that TMI (too much information).  So while checking out the news on CNN.com, to my surprise and delight I stumbled upon an article headlined “Kutcher Threatens to Stop Twittering.”  The article shares how Twitter has partnered with TV producers Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment on an unscripted show that would be "putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format"- aka: a show centered on stalking celebrities.  When finding out about this, actor Ashton Kutcher Tweeted “its all fun and games until somebody gets stalked” and warns that he might take a break from Twittering if this show goes through.  

I find this to be quite ironic. Kutcher and wife Demi Moore are some of the worst "Twit" offenders, constantly Tweeting meaningless details about their lives. Kutcher also had a high-profile race with CNN to be the first with 1 million Twitter followers. While celebrities and Average Joes alike get stalked every day, I agree that creating a TV show about stalking is probably not the healthiest behavior to endorse. However in my opinion, exploiting oneself is pretty tacky, especially through Twitter.  At least when a third party exploits you, people take pity and feel sorry for you.  

Twitter has definitely drawn some criticism on this partnership from celebs and regular people. We’ll see if this TV show goes through.  While Twitter does allow people to share ground breaking news, give expert advice, give feedback on certain products or services, Twitter should not be used for everyone to “randomly brag about their unexceptional life” nor for harassing individuals.