"I'm not just a performer any more, I'm a content provider," says Stephen Fry at IAB Engage 2009.
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In a ‘fireside interview’ with IAB chairman, Richard Eyre, Stephen Fry had the Engage 2009 audience eating out of his hand recounting his years as a techno geek and posterboy for Twitter.
Fry explained that he first signed up to Twitter and expected nothing to come of it: “I was packing to go to Africa to film a documentary about disappearing species.” He naively thought it would a fun way to stay in touch with friends back home, and thought nothing of sending his first tweet before he boarded the plane. “On arrival in Africa I had 3,000 followers,” he said.
Fry described being on Twitter as an odyssey and an “extraordinary journey with peaks and troughs”. On his return from Africa his Tweeting reached a new height. “I went to meet Jonathan Ross, but got stuck in a lift. I tweeted about being stuck in a lift and the next day it was all over the media,” he added “it was insane”.
Talking about his “wobble” a few weeks ago Fry explained that it was a combination of events surrounding Stephen Gately’s death – who he described as a “friend” – and insults received by the BNP that made him “almost commit Twittercide.”
He argued that Twitter can be the folly of a crowd,” adding “Twitter is not the sum of my opinion nor any other celebrity twitterers. It’s the vast majority of ordinary twitterers.” Discussing Jan Moir’s column specifically, Fry added: “I think she knows it was ill judged”.
Fry believes that “the worst of the internet is that which is found below the blog: the comments. 90% of people who choose to comment are simply unbearable.” Fry sees the commentators as “the cancer of dislike,that is a side of the internet that is deeply worrying.”
Advertisers have tried to cash in on Fry’s influence on Twitter and he now receives “12 books a day from publishers” to review and recommend from publishers. One book he recommended – “Sum” went to number one in the Amazon book chart. There is a downside to the commercialism; Fry now has to stipulate to people that he will only recommend a website if it can withstand 1,000 visitors a second for two hours.
When asked about the offers he regularly receives from brands, Fry belowed: “I'm not just a performer any more, I'm a content provider.”
Fry recounted how he introduced his friend, Peter Mandelson, to the internet in 1997: “I showed Peter his first website, it was the Conservatives' website.”
When asked about his newspaper habits and whether he would pay for one online he said: “I haven’t read a newspaper for 12 years. They are like used toilet paper.” However, he has a very different opinion about Rupert Murdoch. Fry described him as a “supreme leader in his field,” adding “he is extraordinary, a brilliant leader and far sighted.”
The final question asked by the audience was what Fry wants for Christmas, and it’s good news for the HTC HD mobile phone handset. Fry “adores it” and says “it’s a sexy thing”.
