Twitter can be a bear pit. As a repository for anything that crosses one's mind, it tends to attract rebuttals, rejections, replies and refutations like an old sweet attracts pocket fluff. However, with a bit of luck, a judicious following policy and a sensible 'only when sober' rule, Twitter interactions should be no more alarming than mild joshing, light sarcasm and clumsy flirting. But cross the ill-defined line and watch your life fall apart.
We're all familiar with the amusingly titled, American politician Anthony Weiner and his enthusiasm for sending shots of his smoked sausage to young ladies - and now we have our own, albeit slightly more restrained, UK version. The incident concerns the hapless Mufadal Jiwaji and the well-known Guardian columnist, Grace Dent.
Jiwaji works for the PR agency Hill & Knowlton Strategies. Or at least he did. Describing himself as a 'passionate PR profesional [sic]' and 'digital communications evangelist', Mufadal was spending last Friday evening enjoying the new series of 'Have I Got News For You', on which Grace Dent was guesting. With phone or laptop in hand, onto Twitter he jumped, and fired off:
'@gracedent reminds me of a girlfriend I once had. By girlfriend I mean that time I accidentally made love to an ugly abhorrent horse #hignfy'
This message may well have evaporated to become just so much Twitter steam, like  hundreds of thousands of other tweets appearing at that very moment, were it not for two horrifying errors. 1) By using the @gracedent configuration he was essentially copying Ms. Dent into the insult and 2) Grace works with Hill and Knowlton Strategies, his employer.
Oh. Dear. Me.
Now, as a digital communications evangelist, one may reasonably expect the fellow to realise how Twitter works. Failing that, one would hope he would be aware of his agency's clients and make an effort not call them an 'ugly horse'. He wasn't and he didn't.
Minutes later he received this from Grace Dent:
'@Mufadal Hi there Mufadel. How much do you like your job at Hill and Knowlton?'
Then:
'@Mufadal I'm wondering, as a public relations person for a firm I work with, what your thinking was in sending me this message?'
Mufadel was then drowning rapidly:
'Unreservedly withdraw my vulgar and puerile comment regarding @gracedent, especially in light of the bbc doc on internet trolls last week.'
He also promised to delete the tweet and 'bare (sic) the full brunt of my idiocy.'
By now, it's safe to assume, the utterly terrified Jiwaji was hoping this was the end of the matter. But Grace smelled blood:
'You'll bear the brunt of your idiocy at 10am tomorrow morning when you're unemployed. Good luck.'
I'd love to tell you the final outcome, but the row has moved from Twitter to the privacy of the real world. However, I can say I rather feel for this poor chap. In the couple of seconds it took him to let loose with his rude and juvenile jibe he had wrecked his prospects. He may even have tweeted himself out of a future in the industry in which he obviously wants to succeed. I could very easily condemn his actions and call him an idiot, but many years ago I sent a scathing email about a senior executive from the European office to an agency colleague and copied the executive in on the communication. In my case, I was able to call the email back and no-one was any the wiser. But that was simply my good luck.
We all have stupid, devilish thoughts now again. We can all be bitchy, smart-arsed, loud-mouthed and plain stupid. Unfortunately, at our fingertips, we now have technology which can take our human frailties out of our front rooms and across the globe in a heartbeat. Occasionally delivering them straight to the eyes of the wrong person with alarming efficiency.
Yes, we all have to take responsibility for our personal utterances, no matter how impulsive. And we all have to accept the consequences when we mess up. More so, if we make a living in the communications business. Whether we should pay with our job for an indiscretion which causes no real or lasting harm, is another matter.
I hope Grace Dent is actually being more mischievous than vengeful and when Mufadel arrived at work on Monday morning, nothing worse than the carpeting of his life was waiting. He has certainly learned a lot about PR in a very short time and a little something about life too. Perhaps that's enough.
Be careful out there.
Magnus Shaw - blogger, writer and broadcaster
www.magnusshaw.co.uk
www.creativepool.co.uk/magnusshaw
STOP PRESS: Grace Dent has since confirmed she was merely teasing Mufadel and found his gaffe amusing rather than offensive. She has also joined the staff of The Independent.
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