Leading article: Twitter crowd problems
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.More strange and wonderful news has emerged from the world of Twitter. An employee of the website has divulged that "racks of servers" are dedicated to cope with the Twitter traffic generated by a single user: the 16-year-old Canadian R&B singer Justin Bieber. "Beliebers", as Justin's fans are known, are said to eat up 3 per cent of the social networking website's resources. Justin has almost as many followers (5.1 million) as Barack Obama (5.3 million). Our own Twitter champ, Stephen Fry, is well back on 1.8 million.
Perhaps this will become the new gauge of celebrity success. It used to be the size of your trailer, or your backstage dressing room, or the number of times you appeared on the cover of magazines, that indicated whether you had made it or not. But maybe one day it will be the number of dedicated servers you have at Twitter HQ.
But the Beliebers do pose a potential problem. What if Justin's fanbase keeps on expanding and starts to crowd out the rest of the Twittersphere? The economics textbooks suggest that one way to ration a scarce common resource is through tax. So could there one day be a Twitter tax ("Twax")? Do not rule it out. And you know who to blame if it arrives.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments