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When is the novelty of Twitter going to wear off, at least in the media?
For a service that's quite clearly billed as a social network, I find it hard to understand why there's so much fuss about people doing - erm - social things on it. Yes, the sight of people flirting and chatting, lying and scheming, plotting and self-publicising can be fascinating - that's why journalists fill their pages with this sort of stuff.
At least, that's what they tell themselves.
But why the extra hoo-ha when people do these things on Twitter?
Let's take the Twitter stories of last week and assess their real significance.
She's pregnant. She announced it on Twitter. "Woo hoo I'm gonna be a mummy!" she said.
Significance: why issue a press release when you can get national coverage with a tweet?
She isn't. Despite someone on Twitter saying she is.
Significance: who cares? It's just another non-story about Kerry Katona. Turn the page.
No baby for Perry either. "Ur gonna make me cry, maybe that's my period tho. THAT'S RIGHT I'M BLEEDING. Face. Better luck next month peepz," she tweeted.
Significance: yet more free publicity for something that hasn't actually occurred.
She is so. The lover of the late heiress Casey Johnson says she is.
Significance: yet more free publicity for something that has actually occurred.
And having read all the non-stories, pulled off the internet by hacks who are desperate to fill space, it's hard not to sympathise with the following item of interest.
He doesn't like Twitter. He's stopped using it after six tweets, claiming it to be 'pointless' and 'undignified'.
And sadly, given the oodles of tedium that seep from Twitter into the pages of the press, it's tempting to agree with him.
But that's to miss the point – Twitter is just like any other social medium, and you can actually derive a lot of pleasure, amusement, satisfaction and even profit from it, without once noticing that a minor celeb is (or is not) carrying a child. It's in the newspapers that you can't avoid that sort of dross.
No matter. Let's end on a positive.
Yes, an additional $5 million has been trickling in. And I'm not along in thinking that's one of the many good sides of Twitter - one that doesn't have much to do with pregnancies, real or imagined, and one that may well have been missed by Ricky Gervais.
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Ben Locker is a freelance writer who has contributed to a wide range of publications, from The Times to local newspapers and magazines. He has been blogging in various corners of the Internet since 2003, and is as interested in the mechanics of the web as he is its content.
A magazine journalist and qualified teacher, he has spent much of his career working for education charities and other voluntary sector organisations. He became a freelance writer in early 2006 and now runs a popular copywriting agency.
Ben is particularly interested in the craftmanship of writing, and most enjoys helping others crystallise their ideas in the right words. His first book, a satire of which he was co-author, was published by Atlantic in 2007.
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