Stephen Fry: has just passed 1 million followers on Twitter. Photograph: Steve Forrest/Rex Features
Writer, broadcaster and high-profile Twitter user Stephen Fry pays tribute to campaigning users of micro-blogging servic
Stephen Fry has today paid tribute to the campaigning "Twitter millions" who create stories such as the backlash against Jan Moir's Stephen Gately column, but warned big business not to try to use the social networking website as a marketing tool.
Fry, who passed more than 1 million followers on the micro-blogging service at the weekend, described himself as one of the "Twillionaires", who "can cut out the press from our PR requirements".
However, he played down his own role on two of the most high-profile Twitter campaigns of late – the Trafigura affair and Moir's Daily Mail column about the death of Gately.
He said that he gets blamed for "inventing" such stories because of the number of Twitter users who follow him, but added that it was really the "Twitter millions" who create the story.
"There was the case of Trafigura, which forbade the Guardian to write about it," said Fry, speaking at the first 140 Characters conference at the O2 in London.
"It caused a storm on Twitter, which I joined in quite late as that morning I came from the gym – it is pathetic, I can't believe I said that but it is true, and the thing reached such a heat by 1pm or 2pm that the lawyers had to do something about it. This can be considered a victory," he added.
Fry also played down his role in the Twitter campaign last month against Moir's Gately column, which many users interpreted as homophobic and led to an unprecedented 25,000 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission.
He said he did not make a "big deal" out of the Moir column. "But I saw this brilliant answer from Charlie Brooker [on Twitter] and so commented and pointed there. And then they said, 'Who the hell does Stephen Fry think he is forbidding this journalist to think freely?' Well I never did," Fry added.
"But because of the weight of my numbers I am now credited or blamed for inventing these stories. But this is not the way Twitter works. The Twitter millions create the story. You can only point them in a direction. It is like with your parents, when you come home and say you did this because a friend told you and they go like: well if he told you to stick your head in the fire, would you do that?
"Twitter is about participating – by which I mean you tweet and read other people's tweets. Then you understand it, and get its rhythm. But remember: It is about being authentic. These things are human-shaped."
Fry said people who had previously dismissed Twitter as a waste of time were now busy drawing up their business strategies.
"A year ago, nearly no one heard about Twitter. But things move so fast today – and the bewilderment, content, disbelief with which Twitter was greeted. They called it the most banal and pointless waste of time. And do you know what they say now? Now they say: 'Our Twitter strategy is...'," he added.
"It is a very odd thing when people think they are being smart when they speak not as humans but as business people ... It will come as no surprise that as the next big thing it wasn't designed as business for business. Twitter was created to babble to each other. Remember it was called Twitter and not marketing tool.
"It is important for all of us to understand its nature. It is human shaped, not business shaped. And the swell will move elsewhere if you try to make it all neat and attractive. The greatness and the magnitude of its energy will all move."
Fry compared Twitter to the invention of the printing press and the "huge upheaval" it caused. He said it enabled celebrities to bypass traditional news outlets, such as newspapers journalists.
"There was no class more contemptuous of Twitter than the commentating journalists. Why should we care about what Britney Spears had for breakfast, they said. So may I ask you, why do you write about it in the paper? The journalists said, 'Who needs this Twitter thing?' and in the next moment you read: 'Follow the Daily Mail on Twitter at ...'," he added.
"But like with the printing press, Twitter changed the situation. People like me, Twillionaires, we can cut out the press from our PR requirements. It used to be a pact with the devil. You wanted to inform the press about a new film and they said they will interview you, but only if they are allowed to ask you around other themes about your private life.
"Today, Britney Spears tells her PR manager, 'Why should I care about this journalist of this newspaper with a big circulation? I will reach their circulation just by typing into my keyboard.' So well, whole newspapers are on the one side filled with resentment against Twitter, on the other side they are using it and searching Twitter messages."
Fry, who passed more than 1 million followers on the micro-blogging service at the weekend, described himself as one of the "Twillionaires", who "can cut out the press from our PR requirements".
However, he played down his own role on two of the most high-profile Twitter campaigns of late – the Trafigura affair and Moir's Daily Mail column about the death of Gately.
He said that he gets blamed for "inventing" such stories because of the number of Twitter users who follow him, but added that it was really the "Twitter millions" who create the story.
"There was the case of Trafigura, which forbade the Guardian to write about it," said Fry, speaking at the first 140 Characters conference at the O2 in London.
"It caused a storm on Twitter, which I joined in quite late as that morning I came from the gym – it is pathetic, I can't believe I said that but it is true, and the thing reached such a heat by 1pm or 2pm that the lawyers had to do something about it. This can be considered a victory," he added.
Fry also played down his role in the Twitter campaign last month against Moir's Gately column, which many users interpreted as homophobic and led to an unprecedented 25,000 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission.
He said he did not make a "big deal" out of the Moir column. "But I saw this brilliant answer from Charlie Brooker [on Twitter] and so commented and pointed there. And then they said, 'Who the hell does Stephen Fry think he is forbidding this journalist to think freely?' Well I never did," Fry added.
"But because of the weight of my numbers I am now credited or blamed for inventing these stories. But this is not the way Twitter works. The Twitter millions create the story. You can only point them in a direction. It is like with your parents, when you come home and say you did this because a friend told you and they go like: well if he told you to stick your head in the fire, would you do that?
"Twitter is about participating – by which I mean you tweet and read other people's tweets. Then you understand it, and get its rhythm. But remember: It is about being authentic. These things are human-shaped."
Fry said people who had previously dismissed Twitter as a waste of time were now busy drawing up their business strategies.
"A year ago, nearly no one heard about Twitter. But things move so fast today – and the bewilderment, content, disbelief with which Twitter was greeted. They called it the most banal and pointless waste of time. And do you know what they say now? Now they say: 'Our Twitter strategy is...'," he added.
"It is a very odd thing when people think they are being smart when they speak not as humans but as business people ... It will come as no surprise that as the next big thing it wasn't designed as business for business. Twitter was created to babble to each other. Remember it was called Twitter and not marketing tool.
"It is important for all of us to understand its nature. It is human shaped, not business shaped. And the swell will move elsewhere if you try to make it all neat and attractive. The greatness and the magnitude of its energy will all move."
Fry compared Twitter to the invention of the printing press and the "huge upheaval" it caused. He said it enabled celebrities to bypass traditional news outlets, such as newspapers journalists.
"There was no class more contemptuous of Twitter than the commentating journalists. Why should we care about what Britney Spears had for breakfast, they said. So may I ask you, why do you write about it in the paper? The journalists said, 'Who needs this Twitter thing?' and in the next moment you read: 'Follow the Daily Mail on Twitter at ...'," he added.
"But like with the printing press, Twitter changed the situation. People like me, Twillionaires, we can cut out the press from our PR requirements. It used to be a pact with the devil. You wanted to inform the press about a new film and they said they will interview you, but only if they are allowed to ask you around other themes about your private life.
"Today, Britney Spears tells her PR manager, 'Why should I care about this journalist of this newspaper with a big circulation? I will reach their circulation just by typing into my keyboard.' So well, whole newspapers are on the one side filled with resentment against Twitter, on the other side they are using it and searching Twitter messages."
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