Twitter Hype

 Last night (Sunday), off ZDF (Channel Two, public TV in Germany).....came the short news segment of Berlin Direckt.  

Generally, they select highly sensational political stories which are being hyped by political folks around Berlin.  

So among the topics for the telecast....was this 'fear' over the culture of debate in Germany.  

In simple terms....in the old days (before social media came along).....newspapers, public TV news, intellectuals, and political groups controlled the discussion and informed you (the general public) of the situation.  I would include commercial news into this group, except they are more concerned with providing entertainment, and actually making a profit at the end of the day, with the bulk of Germans not that attracted to political chit-chat.

This 'fear' business?  Well....it sensationalized it around Twitter commentary and the harsh words being uttered there.  People are openly challenging 'facts' and condemning various positions.

Covid-19 alone?  No, not exactly....but it is a big chunk of what is openly discussed if you gaze at German Twitter commentary.

This was a brief five-minute discussion and it's kinda obvious that the news journalists and intellectual crowd have a worry on their mind now.  People are openly skeptical, and it tends to lead to political instability (at least in their mind).

A lot of Germans using Twitter?  No.  On social media use....Twitter ranks number seven (even Pinterest ranks ahead of it).

Name recognition among the heavy Twitter-users who are branded 'bad-boys' by the journalists?  No....that's another issue.  If you brought up ten of the top Twitter folks who are critics of public news or the Berlin political machine....none of the ten names would be readily recognized by the general public of Germany.

So why the worry?  One might suspect that the arguments made and criticisms offered....are received now by more Germans, than a year ago.  Covid-criticism has increased a good bit.  Add to it....the fall national election of 2021 is not that far away now.  

More to come?  Public forum chatter probably will pick up this topic shortly and devote more forum time to it.