To tweet, or not to tweet!

Aman Kanth

Jaipur: At a time when boundaries between public and private discourse are fast fading, social networking, particularly Twitter, is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways. In today’s times, social networking sites have revolutionised the very idea of socialising. On Day 3 of the Jaipur Literature Festival 2012, Indian author Chetan Bhagat, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and adman-entrepreneur Suhel Seth shared their views on this amazing social networking in a session aptly titled ‘Survival Strategies in the Time of Twitterati.’ Interestingly, Chetan, Shashi and Suhel had their share of good and bad experience on Twitter. If Chetan and Suhel came across hate messages, Shashi’s ‘holy cow’ tweet literally kicked up a huge political storm. Out to dissect Twitter, if Chetan called the social networking site a negative space which was a free for all affair, Shashi felt that Twitter was an ‘interactive aakashwani’, where he got the chance to discuss a wide variety of issues. On the other hand, Suhel saw Twitter as a social phenomenon, which was ‘breaking down of social structures’ and a great tool of information and involvement. When asked about government’s dictum to curb social networking sites and censorship issues, Chetan said that Twitter should be a moderated platform while Shashi opined that ‘art, literature and political opinion should never be censored.’ Though Shashi was not against free speech, but for a government concerned about law and order situation, inflammatory things should be curbed. Meanwhile, debunking censorship of any kind, Suhel said, “Twitter today is reflective of the rage of the social being. Religious hatred is inspired and manipulated by people for gain.” Calling for reason, Suhel added that one should not dwell too much on the negative impact of Twitter and rather look at its positives sides too. Well, we have someone speaking for Twitter!