Twitter's new email service: Why you should be more careful while tweeting

In the last couple of weeks, there has been much debate over Twitter and its accountability. Many separate tweets have caused trouble for not just individuals but also big organisations like the BBC.

Ranging from Israel’s threat to Hamas, to racial slurs against Obama after he was re-elected, after Twitter made news for all the wrong reasons, the social networking site on Friday introduced a newfeature - the ability to email Tweets directly from themessage stream.

[caption id=“attachment_525909” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Now, you can directly email your tweets. Getty Images[/caption]

“You can retweet any (Twitter messages) to your Twitterfollowers, but sometimes you want to share with another group,like your college roommates or your parents or a friend whoisn’t yet on Twitter,that’s why we’re introducing the ability to email a Tweet directly from twitter.com” engineer Stefan Filip said in a blog post reported AFP.

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With this new feature, the popular social networking site will spread to those who are not a part of it. This calls for a show of responsibility from Twitter users, because with greater permeation comes the risk of larger ramifications.

In Britain, hundreds of people are prosecuted each year for posts, tweets, texts and emails deemed menacing, indecent, offensive or obscene, and the number is growing as our online lives expand.

Unlike even a decade ago, offensive comments in public spaces spread like wildfire, thanks to the reach of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. And even though you may be able to delete a tweet, erasing an email trail may not be that easy!