Twitter feuds between celebrities can sometimes be entertaining to watch as they unfold, but ultimately they just drive home how important it is for athletes, entertainers and other famous people to act like adults while posting things that the general public can read.
A classic example of this phenomenon is the recent unpleasantness between country star Miranda Lambert and R and B singer Chris Brown that started on Monday, February 13 when Lambert posted tweets questioning why Brown was allowed to perform twice during the 54th Grammy Awards show the night before.
On Thursday, February 16, Camille Mann of CBS News reported, "Lambert… tweeted to her more than 600,000 followers: '… Chris Brown twice? I don't get it. He beat on a girl...'
"Brown performed twice at the awards show and picked up a Grammy for best R&B album.
"He fired back on Twitter saying, 'HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY Now! That's the ultimate F--- OFF!' But the tweet was soon deleted, and replaced with, 'I'M BACK SO WATCH MY BaCK as I walk away from all this negativity #teambreezygrammy,' which now has also been deleted.
According to Mann, Lambert responded by posting more tweets that probably didn't help the situation at all, even if her approach was much classier, such as, "Oh and one more thing for all who are asking....I have a Grammy too."
Most celebrity feuds on Twitter boil down to some famous person saying things on Twitter that they should not have posted in a public forum where people who write online content can see them and share them with their readers.
Last December, The Huffington Post devoted an article and slideshow to their favorite celebrity Twitter feuds.
It might seem sort of funny at first to see Lindsay Lohan diss Dr. Phil or read Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane's snarky response to something Robin Gardner tweeted, but by the time one gets to the angry tweets that flew back and forth between movie critic Roger Ebert and MTV reality show star Bam Margera it isn't so funny any more.
The whole thing has a sick "bread and circuses" vibe that might appeal to ancient Roman gladiator fans, but it makes no sense to act that way on the Internet. Not only does it destroy people's credibility and tarnish their public images, but it affects their ability to promote themselves in a world where how one posts on social media sites can dramatically impact their careers.
Professional athletes are often the worst offenders. After all the times players such as NFL running backs Rashard Mendenhall and Reggie Bush or Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic have been fined, lost endorsement deals and got into other kinds of trouble over things they said on Twitter, one would expect them to start figuring out what kinds of things are appropriate to say in a public forum.
In a column posted on Bleacher Report, Zachary D. Rymer gave a great reason why pro athletes should spend more time thinking before they tweet.
"Numerous athletes have tweeted things they shouldn't have, and these tweets have led to a few notable media firestorms," Rymer said.
"The problem is that the tweets that cause these firestorms overshadow all the other tweets that come from our favorite athletes, the vast majority of which are positive. Thus, what we have are a select few troublemakers ruining it for everyone else."
Experts talk a lot about learning more about social media, but what it really seems to come down to is the simple guideline of, "Is this something you would say in front of your mother?" Players who keep that in mind can avoid a lot of trouble.
People in the Spokane area who go looking for controversial things said by Gonzaga basketball players, just for example, probably won't find anything worse than freshman point guard Kevin Pangos saying good things about Canada.
That is because they have some idea of how to present themselves when interacting with the public.
Zag fans probably won't see pictures of players posing next to their weed stashes, or read posts where they call head coach Mark Few a a whiny girly man because they at least have some understanding of their responsibilities to their fans, their families, their school, the NCAA and the public in general.
If a bunch of young men and women living in the Spokane area can figure this out, then why can't Bam Margera and Chris Brown?
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