ith television becoming increasingly obsolete for the “instant generation,” tweet wars have become a new source of entertainment, a way to see hilarious conversations unfold, unlike what one would see in a scripted comedy or a reality show.
Tweet wars between Indonesian social media users, known as “netizens,” have skyrocketed over the past few years, making sites like Twitter battlegrounds for pseudointellectual supremacy between millions of opinionated users.
The topics that usually invite the tensest of furor revolve around religious, social or political beliefs; topics that many feel should be unchallengeable in debate.
From the looks of the online fights that have taken place the past few years, there appears to be a certain desire by many on the internet to defend their beliefs against those who challenge them, even if it means sacrificing their dignity.
Commenting on the tweet war phenomenon, social media expert Enda Nasution said that the culture of the wars provided real-life nobodies a way to gain internet fame. “Due to the public aspect of Twitter, there is an audience for that expression and the audience gets hooked on it like a TV show. They want the good guy to win.”
Amidst the burgeoning warring culture, a new Twitter account recently rose up as a result of too many wars being waged on the site.
An account known as @InfoTwitwor is a twitter handle that basically keeps track of most of Indonesia’s ongoing tweet wars, controversies or punditry posts on the social media site.
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