From Rochdale Online:Linda Fisher, Rochdale Council Acting Chief Executive, has been forced into an embarrassing apology after favouriting a tweet that attempts to smear Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk.
In a tweet on Sunday (3 August), @CarlWarmington said: "@SimonDanczuk Why not go for the abusers and those in Rochdale Council who covered up? RMBC corruptees should be ignored? Why? #suspicious.
Mr Danczuk, who has been at the forefront of efforts to expose those guilty of sexually abusing children, said: "I am disappointed that a chief executive would get embroiled in local politics in this way. My record speaks for itself in tackling child abuse both at a local and national level and it is wholly inappropriate for Linda Fisher to be supporting comments that attempt to smear me."
It is understood that Ms Fisher never meant to favourite the tweet, it was done by 'accident'. Having realised Ms Fisher then un-favourited the tweet.
Ms Fisher has apologised to Mr Danczuk.In my book Linda Fisher has nothing to apologise for.
When I favourite (let's drop the American spelling) a tweet it is a way of saving it for later reference. Typically, I will be on the train or at lunch and skimming down my twitterstream looking for links that may be interesting. When I see one, I favourite it.
It is not an expression of support for that tweet. If I want to do that, I retweet it. And even then, retweeting can occasionally be a way of saying "Look at this view. Isn't it terrible?"
So on my understanding, there is nothing wrong with Fisher saving a tweet that accuses her authority of covering up abuse. That is something she must obviously take an interest in.
To Danczuk, however, to favourite a tweet is obviously to express public approval of it. He sees it as akin to liking a post or page on Facebook. So to him, Fisher is effectively agreeing with the idea that he has not gone after his political colleagues over child abuse in Rochdale by Cyril Smith and, one suspects, many others.
So am I in the minority? How do other people use favouriting on Twitter?
4 comments:
My Internet bookmarks include links to some BNP thugs who thumped me in a pub. The bookmarked people are far from my favourites.
There are also those silly thumbs-up icons for social media sites below blog posts. If I press on the icon, what does it mean? Ironic contempt or sincere belief?
The Guardian, bless it, has a poll today: "Loom bands can't be recycled – should they be banned?" Two answers, yes or no, are permitted; there is no 'Get in touch with reality' option.
I fully appreciate that such polls are click bait, but I expect higher standards from a broadsheet newspaper.
I, almost exclusively, favourite tweets to read later
I normally favourite them for later reference. I understand that some of my more prolific tweeting friends do the same. The label 'favorite' does muddy the water though.
Some people have tweeted to say they do use favoriting as a way of liking a tweet rather than just saving the link.
Others have favourited my tweet about this post. I wonder what they mean by that?
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