Look whose Twitter account is set at “Protected”. Ms Maria Ressa who is CEO of “social news network” Rappler.com has set her Twitter profile so that “Only confirmed followers have access to [her] Tweets and complete profile,” and so one needs to “Click the ‘Follow’ button to send a follow request.”
Ressa is a self-described evangelist of the concept of “social media for social change” a framework for change within which Rapper positions itself as “a new player in online journalism that seeks to combine 1) professional journalism with 2) the wisdom of crowds—through social media—and 3) the power of technology to come up with reports that, Ressa said, will hopefully move people to positive action.” Rappler also fancies itself a “social news network†that promises “uncompromised journalism that inspires smart conversations and ignites a thirst for change”.
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What then does Maria Ressa have to hide from her non-followers?
Perhaps it may have something to do with her hallowed stature in what is really an inbred industry of professional cliques that remain beholden to credentials. But then…
Credentials work for people who need to earn respect before the fact of earning it. But in a mass communications ecosystem that is rapidly flattening thanks to the very technology that the Rappler.com copywriters fail to demonstrate a savvy understanding of, credentials are becoming less relevant. Rather, the ability to persist as a credible source of insight is now built directly upon the merit and quality of what one says and writes consistently. And that is what “social news networks†ultimately do — turn news and the “reporters†who “report†them to the no more than the commodities that they are today.
You’d think then that the CEO of Rappler would, herself, embrace the very essence as much as everything that is all about the open and transparent exchange of information that social media makes possible for people in breadth and depth that is unprecedented in history.
Indeed, true social media “practitioners” tend to frown upon people who use protected Twitter account. After all, what is the point? Technology evangelist Adria Richards likened such Twitterzens to closet alcoholics…
Protected Twitter accounts are like going to a party and hiding the closet while you drink from a flask…alone
But then PC World writer Phil Shapiro whose Twitter account is protected makes this argument on behalf of his kind…
One last reason I protect my tweets is by looking at the kinds of other people on Twitter who protect their tweets. This is currently a very small percentage, smaller than one percent of all Twitter users. Yet if you examine the kinds of people who protect their tweets, a large majority of these people are what I would characterize as deeply thoughtful people. If deeply thoughtful people tend to protect their tweets, then maybe my decision to protect my tweets was a sound one.
We know of course that Ressa counts herself as a “thought leader” — a title she and a small number of members of what seems to be an elite clique within Rappler fancy themselves to be. But as to whether or not third parties agree with that self-anointment? Perhaps we’d be better off deferring to that “wisdom of crowds” that these “Rapplers” are beholden to for the answer to that question.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
I’m only updated on what she’s up to in this blog.
Really she wants her rappler to be the “decider” heh.
Is that her photo on her tweeter?
Seems she’s wishing to be a Michelle Malkin.
Or maybe Arianna of Huffington.
Sure, don’t you have a 10-year old photo of someone who doesn’t look like a Singaporean busboy on your Twitter also?
No idea what she would tweet about except what little I saw last night. Still what’s the point of making waves if you are going to confine yourself to the kiddie pool? Maybe she is fearful of people with independent thought checking out those tweets instead of the group think they are accustomed to. I think I will subscribe to her tweets under the Twitter ID Ron Jeremy_HH.
The more I think about this it just leads me to the idea that one thing can be used by three different people for three different things. Example : a bicycle can be used for exercise, transportation or recreation. Twitter for me is three things. A news reader, social networking and a techno “soap box” . It’s possible that if you want to use it as a closed social network and less of a soap box then locking your tweets would make sense. No idea though why someone of Ms. Ressa’s ilk would restrict her tweets unless it’s the reasons I mentioned previously.
That Shapiro character uses just about the stupidest argument for anything I’ve heard all day.
You mean “I protect therefore I am intellectual? “
Yeah, I thought so too..
Sir, Her account is not protected. She just blocked you. If you log-out and write in your browser http://www.twitter.com/maria_ressa, you’ll see it’s open like a fly.
Well, she’s probably unprotected it since. 😀
Nopes, she didn’t unprotect it, because she’s a verified account. A verified account can’t be protected and has to be public. She blocked you, that simple.
Go on, check. If you log on to your twitter, and look at her twitter, it would say the above. Account protected, can’t see (because that’s what happens when you get blocked). Log out, and type in your browser http://www.twitter.com/maria_ressa and you’ll see all of her tweets.
So, you made a long piece based on a false assumption, because you don’t know the mechanics of being “blocked”.
You should have checked your facts first before jumping to conclusions.
You can’t lock a verified account. It’s in the Twitter rules. Maria Ressa’s one of the few pinoys with verified accounts.
I can see it now, a new piece on Maria Ressa being pikon because she blocked you. Admit first you were wrong in all of your accusations, and false assumptions, on her protecting her account. Moron.
Well, how then do you explain what’s on the screen cap. Here is what it says:
It did not say anything about me being specifically blocked, it said “only confirmed followers have access”.
Go check it out again here.
Sorry, I didn’t know Twitter have to spell it out for you. “Confirmed followers have access…” Let me write Twitter and tell them that they have to write “You’ve been blocked.” Oh hey, it does! Try pressing that “Follow” button, and it will say “You can’t follow, because you’ve been blocked”.
And yes, I checked it out, clicked on the link, I can see everything.
Things must frequently be spelled out for him.
Woot! Woot! Palace troll levels on your website reaching unsafe proportions. Now switching to Def Con 4.
Jeez, here we are again – comprehension issue.
“Only confirmed followers have access to @maria_ressa’s Tweets and complete profile. Click the “Follow†button to send a follow request.”
True or false? That it says only confirmed followers have access to @maria_ressa’s Tweets and complete profile.
True or false? That one is not required to Click the “Follow†button to send a follow request.
Only a moron like Joey will avoid comprehending this and instead will tell us this issue according to his moronic way of thinking, one that will suit his/her narrative –
“Sorry, I didn’t know Twitter have to spell it out for you. “Confirmed followers have access…†Let me write Twitter and tell them that they have to write “You’ve been blocked.—
Get a life kid, what follow button are you talking about? He’s not a confirmed follower of Ressa’s blog and he does not want to be a confirmed follower.
Why don’t you, yourself, write twitter instead regarding your issue. And stop bothering others with your problem!
Get a life!
@Joey: well guess what, I don’t really want to follow Maria Ressa so why should I click on the follow button which says one does so “to send a follow request”. I don’t want a follow request from me sent to Ms Ressa, so that means I’ll just have to take Twitter’s word for it. So maybe write to them then let me know what their response is, plez. 😀
It’s hilarious because I have seen the Twitter exchange between you and another Twitter user [Ed something, sorry forgot the last name] and Ressa’s handle were mentioned in all the discussions. And those were hardly flattering haha! Yes, I believe she blocked your account benign0.
But then again, you’re probably right.
Though it’s her right, I believe true media practitioners should be able to handle the worst criticisms/heckling that go with the most pathetic boot licking from people they don’t block.
I can understand blocking for reasons of spam or obscenity. I still stand behind my statement that the blocking originates from refusing to consume the yellow kool aid.