All that twitters is not droll

I was once invited to join Twitter by somebody who said it was 'tremendous fun', but I'm glad I didn't. It seems to have turned into something rather unpleasant - an echo chamber for gossip, often malicious. Its structure has become very lopsided; a small number of celebrities have tens of thousands of followers, while most people just follow and re-tweet. It can distribute rumour at great speed, and the correction of mistakes is painfully slow. It no doubt provides fascinating data for network theory, and it is said to have played a part in the Arab Spring, but I am not convinced it is making the world a better place.