Social media with a conscience.


Last night I tweeted that a contestant on BBC1’s popular game show Pointless looked like a tiny-faced Bobby Davro.


It was just a silly little joke – a prerequisite of my job: making silly little jokes – but within the space of a few hours, that silly little joke had been spotted, commented on and then retweeted by the contestant in question.


Now, I think it’s safe to assume he wasn’t particularly offended; the smiley face and subsequent retweets by him and his fellow teammate would suggest as much. He may even be enjoying the novelty of the temporary fame that appearing on a game show has given him. However, Davrogate does serve to illustrate that the nature of modern social media means you’re potentially just a few short internet steps from direct contact with the person you may be commenting on.

This is not the first time I have been stung by this - though thankfully, each incident has been fairly innocuous. A year or so ago I watched an excellent BBC1 documentary on the making of Paul Simon’s seminal 1986 album, ‘Graceland’ – and noticed how, whenever the a cappella vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo spoke of their collaborator, they referred to him by his full name.

I tweeted as much, and within minutes, received the following reply.

 
Now it does beg the question how a group the size of Ladysmith Black Mambazo approach the updating of their Twitter account. Does every member personally sign off a potential tweet? Are they left in charge of a letter each? Whatever the answer, their response was pretty commendable.
 
Also, a couple of months back I posted a harmless one-liner about the singing coach Carrie Grant. Evidently she must search her own name on the social networking site, as the following day I got a response.



I am of the opinion that none of these examples are offensive. When passing comment on an individual, I am always careful not to make too personal an attack. Also, if a post is anywhere near-the-mark, I would never – NEVER – seek out and add their personal Twitter handle to it; that for me would be crossing the line.

The only time I’ve done that is when I’m making a joke I think they might appreciate.


 
Sadly, not everybody applies the same ruling.

Glyn and I know Michael Barrymore. He has always been kind and supportive of both us and our work - even going as far as appearing as himself in a reading of a sitcom that we had written. We follow each other on Twitter – and as a result I've witnessed the online bullying he is often on the receiving end of, despite certain charges never being brought against him. 

 
Thankfully, not everyone is like this; for every tweet of abuse there are plenty that follow in support. Michael has also spoken in interviews of how he is grateful for Twitter, for finally giving him a voice against his misrepresentation in the media – and often retweets the nastier tweets and articles that are sent to him to illustrate it.
 
Imagine having to put up with that at any time of day or night, though. I, for one, wouldn’t be able to cope with it.

I guess this is a new problem; society has never before been in a position to have such instant and immediate contact with people in the public eye. Perhaps in the process it can be easy to forget that they are real people as much as we are - and can be hurt and offended like anyone else.

This problem doesn’t just apply to celebrities.
 
I’ve watched a couple of episodes of Channel Four's ‘Educating Yorkshire’: a documentary focusing on the everyday lives of students and staff at the Thornhill Community Academy in Dewbury, Yorkshire. The programme positively encourages Twitter comment, bringing up the hashtag '#EducatingYorkshire' at the top-and-tail of every advert break. This makes me feel uncomfortable; is it good to put teenagers at the receiving end of this, knowing many of them are likely to scour the social networking site and read any abuse aimed in their direction?

Perhaps it's time to climb down from my soapbox.

 I have a personal rule when approaching comedy: never make a joke if you have to check the room first for people who may be offended. If a joke is only suited to selected company, then it's not likely to be a nice joke in the first place. Even though yesterday's Davrogate tweet was relatively innocent, I'll try and think a little more carefully before posting in future.

You never know who may be listening.

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