Stephen Fry was crowned “King of Twitter” at this morning’s 140 Conference, a London seminar about the “state of now” organised by entrepreneur Jeff Pulver.

Mr Fry used a large part of his time on stage at the O2 to defend twittering celebrities such as himself and attack “deadwood” newspapers. For Mr Fry, who has over 1m followers on the messaging site, the former is the solution to the failings of the latter.

“I know how much contempt the world has for us as a breed,” he said of “that awful object, the celebrity twitterer”. “But it has driven Twitter.”

Earlier this year, “there was no class of person more contemptuous of Twitter than the commentating journalist in Britain”, Mr Fry said. Now it has gained in popularity, many newspapers that dismissed the service have rushed to promote their Twitter accounts in print.

Still, Mr Fry reckons the press’s fundamental concerns about Twitter remain.

“People like me – twillionaires – we can cut out the press from our PR requirements,” says Mr Fry. “We don’t need them anymore. If I am Britney Spears … I can speak to millions just by typing into my keyboard.”

Even the biggest-selling celebrity magazine can’t compete with that sort of distribution, and Mr Fry is delighted that celebs can avoid the “annoying” questions that come up when doing interviews to promote their latest book or TV show. They can even name and shame journalists who offend them, in a manner that will leave their editors fuming, he says.

Mr Fry isn’t happy when his tweets are quoted in the media either, noting “how useful the Twitter stream is for lazy reporting”, without the need to check facts.

“The whole thing is in a really weird state,” he continued. “Newspapers are filled with resentment at Twitter. They call it a feed rather than a stream, which is very revealing because it shows that they think of it like a Reuters or PA feed that’s coming out for their information. If one was very bloody minded, one could tell all sorts of lies about oneself and watch newspapers repeat them, because they are very lazy.”

His scorn is perhaps understandable given the merciless behaviour of some parts of the celebrity media. But as an avid Twitter user myself, personally and professionally, I am left somewhat confused by Mr Fry’s views.

We are yet to see anyone gain through Twitter alone the sort of fame that Mr Fry and Ms Spears have achieved, so mass media may still have some role to play for rising stars.

But would Mr Fry really prefer the media just packed up and went home? The recession is already forcing many journalists to do just that, with UK publisher Haymarket announcing today the closure of two print titles that cover this very industry, Media Week and Revolution.

The criticism of hacks who publish tweets in their papers without fact checking is valid but also pays a backhanded compliment to those who do try to bring professional standards of journalism to the new media world.

Surely there is a risk that in less deft hands than Mr Fry – who has used his vast reach to direct his followers towards several worthy causes – that unchecked, unchallenged broadcasting from individuals might be open to abuse?

That was the point raised by Andrew Keen, author of Cult of the Amateur and often on hand to burst a bubble. Following Mr Fry onto the stage, Mr Keen challenged the 140 Conference’s breathless enthusiasm about the “profound change” that has put more power in the hands of individuals, apparently at the expense of organisations.

“The new world is based on personal power – the charismatic power of authentic individuals like Stephen Fry,” Mr Keen said. “But there is a danger that most of us aren’t really confronting. What happens if Fry turns out to be nasty? He has massive power. He can make and break newspapers, columnists [and] bestsellers.”

What many see as a “flattening” of hierarchies is in fact “more radically in-egalitarian than anything that existed in the nineteenth century”, Mr Keen concluded.

Let’s hope that the king of Twitter’s subjects follow his example, hitherto, of good digital citizenship.

Photo by kind permission of Paul Clarke

Tags: #140conf, Stephen Fry, twitter

November 17, 2009 2:03pm in Digital media, Europe | Comment