The recent Twitter spat between Western Cape Premier and Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille and acclaimed songstress Simphiwe Dana has got me thinking.

Ms Dana earlier this month took to the social networking platform to question the DA’s track record in Cape Town and in the province. She claimed that Cape Town was the most unequal city in SA and suggested that it was to some extent racist. Ms Zille hit back and said the DA had “excellent” policies to grow the economy and create jobs. I must say the debate was indeed riveting to a larger extent but then was it the right platform?

I would argue that although Twitter has facilitated that much needed interaction between public officials and the populace, it has in some ways trivialised debates. Do not get me wrong, I am a big fan of Twitter and think it has for the most part, positively changed communications.  In her weekly newsletter, Ms Zille said that the biggest challenge presented by Twitter was length or lack of it.

“It is possible to ask a complex question in 140 characters, but usually impossible to answer it adequately.  Inadequate responses generate many complex misinterpretations often deliberate,” Ms Zille said.

I do agree with Ms Zille that it is generally easy to misconstrue messages on Twitter. This has largely to do with the length restriction which forces people to cut the message short.  At the heart of Twitter are the small bursts of information which we refer to as tweets and for me reducing a national debate to 140 characters is trivialising the issue. I think instead of discussing hugely important issues in 140 characters, we should be having a constructive national dialogue through other mediums such as newspapers and TV.

Twitter @bekezeep

Tags: #Dana, #Dialogue, #Helen Zille