This week on YouTube I debuted my game 'Celebrity Tweets' in which I test people on whether they know who tweeted certain tweets, this week I did it with my Sister's best friend & honorary sister, Megan.
On the blog I thought I would talk to you about Twitter.
So, I tweet and I enjoy it, I find it interesting to see what my friends, favourite companies and favourite celebrities are talking about and doing.
What I really wanted to talk about is a question that my dad has asked me and my sister before in a jokey manner when we talk about twitter which is 'Does that count as stalking?'. Today I wanted to take it out of its jokey manner and seriously ask if Twitter is a form of stalking.
For me, it depends on a number of factors, but mainly 4, and they are:
- What The Tweeter Does
- How & Why You Gain The Information
- & How Else You Can Do The Same Thing
So, without further a do, let's look at these 5 factors a bit more in depth:
1. What Does The Tweeter Do?
So, in my opinion, if the tweeter already documents their life elsewhere then reading their tweets cannot count as stalking for instance, a YouTuber, such as Joe Sugg, documents what he does and the majority of his life via YouTube and his job and goal is to tell his fans and followers about his life and so nothing he puts on twitter should not be intended to be not for them. However, someone like 'John from the shop down the road' doesn't intend on having fans know about his life and so using his tweets to follow him may count as stalking
2. How & Why Are you receiving the information about the Tweeter?
This one already sounds like a creepy stalkery question, so let me explain. I'll start with how: If you are receiving the information by just reading the tweet as it comes up in your feed, then great, that's lovely BUT, if you are analysing and piecing together their tweets to find out information about where they are and what they are doing, then I would count this as stalking. Why: If you are receiving this information because you are interested and a fan of the person, great, if you are receiving this information as a way to follow, gain private information or stalk the person, then this is stalking.
3. How Else Can You Gain The Same Information?
This one is a good one and basically says, is this information exclusive to twitter, or can it be found else where, a few example are: YouTubers, is the same information in their videos, General Celebrities, is the same information in their books/interviews & general people, is the same information common knowledge-if so, then good-on the other hand, if this information is exclusive to facebook, accidently leaked on twitter, not common knowledge or secretive- this is inappropriate to keep.
So, my final summary to the question 'Is Twitter like Stalking?' is No, Twitter is a way of finding out that extra bit of info about someone on a different platform, anything on twitter should be there because the tweeter is comfortable with anyone stumbling across it and reading/sharing it. If something is leaked and shared and leads to private info being revealed, this shouldn't count as stalking but more of privacy invasion.
My closing statement is 'If you don't want someone to know something, don't tweet it to the world'
Until Next Time,
Stay Happy,
'Stalk' Me On Twitter (@DysonHamer)
And Goodbye.
Mitch xx
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