Twitter's birthday coincides with sharp warnings of its dangers

So Twitter is eight years old and don’t we all (OK, many of us) love it? The medium’s birthday coincides, however, with two sharp warnings, first about how dangerous it can be and second about how its instant one-to-one personal nature is being eroded.

The first example is Grant Shapps’ notorious ‘Bingo & Beer’ tweet that has been deemed patronising at best and the end of Shapps’ career at worst.  Was this actually personally tweeted by Grant Shapps?  How closely involved was he with the tweet?  Whatever the answers, it went out under his name and he gets the blame.

The second example is rather more sad.  At least one tweet went out on L’Wren Scott’s Twitter account after she died; it would seem that she was using an automation service. Many brands do likewise, but it’s a long way from what Twitter was all about when it first emerged eight years ago this week.