The rise of Britain’s “twittering classes”

Prospect Magazine

The rise of Britain’s “twittering classes”

by James Crabtree
/ / 10 Comments

What sort of person uses Twitter?

Is Twitter just a tool for the chattering classes? It seems so. A new Prospect/YouGov poll reveals that the belief of Twitter users in civil liberties is the most important factor distinguishing them from the general public. British users showed liberal inclinations in October, by breaking a court injunction banning the Guardian from naming mining company Trafigura. They then turned on Daily Mail writer Jan Moir for ill-judged remarks on the death of gay pop star Stephen Gately, and Sunday Times critic AA Gill for shooting a baboon on safari.

Such actions are part of a broader trend. Our poll shows that while 57 per cent of Britons think greater police powers to tackle terrorism are more important than protecting civil liberties, less than half of Twitter users agree. Fifty-six per cent of the public agree that “the greatest victims of discrimination in Britain these days are often ordinary white

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  1. November 20, 2009

    Jacqueline

    Twittering is for idiots: anyone not put off by the name alone is seriously deficient in sensibility. Although I suppose it is more a case of the lemming tendency; fashion victims all, they appear to be left or liberal because, whatever is ‘a la page’ reformulates itself as their deeply-held belief.

  2. November 20, 2009

    Rob Fuller

    This is such a non-story. You report that (a) many British Twitter users are under 35, and (b) Twitter users share similar political attitudes to those aged under-35s. Do you think those two facts might be related? Is (b) surprising in the light of (a)?

    Anything for a press release….

Leave a comment

  1. Liberal Conspiracy » UK Twitterers more left & liberal than average11-18-09
  2. Confessions of a Twitter convert (for now) « Catalyses11-18-09
  3. Banditry » 15% of people inexplicably weird11-18-09
  4. 76% don't twitter, won't twitter | Branding, copywriting and creative direction services - London and the South East11-18-09
  5. Words Go Further| Social media stereotypes: you are what you share on11-18-09
  6. Stories Hitting The Web | Confusedcredit.com11-18-09
  7. Twitter Liberals? : John Connell: The Blog11-20-09


Author

James Crabtree

James Crabtree
James Crabtree is comment editor of the FT


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