Even more than blogging, Twitter seems to be the ultimate way to say exactly what you mean, sometimes without thinking about the consequences, and sometimes not caring.
Twitter has had its fair share of high-profile spats, but a recent “outrages” concerns Penelope Trunk’s twitter: “I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a f***ed-up three-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin”.
Old news, perhaps — two months is an age in the world of Twitter — but it does still raise some interesting points about what should be shared online.
Love it or loathe it, there’s no doubt that such a tweet is a far more interesting answer to “What are you doing?” than “eating a sandwich” or “staring out of the window”.
Apart from the personal attacks many poured upon Ms Trunk, critics said that the tweet was beyond what’s considered acceptable.
Then again, this world of self-publishing, completely free from editorial control, is what independent bloggers have enjoyed for so long.
At the end of the day, if you don’t like someone’s take on life, or how they express it, you don’t have to follow them.
Is there a Twitter limit, or should we be defending people’s right to say what they like, regardless of whether it fits our own outlook?