Do You Tweet & Delete?

A hint of revisionism.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but I noticed recently that at least two employees of a certain media company deleted tweets they had posted publicly, concerning some apparent contradictions – at least in interpretation – about their company’s plans.

I started wondering if I was the only one thinking about the ethics of tweet-deletes, and if there were any rules of right and wrong, and so I asked the Twittersphere:

I delete Tweets only to correct spelling and promptly repost. Otherwise, it feels to me like dishonest omission. Any thoughts?

I got a lot of immediate feedback:

In agreement:
@hyermish: Once you tweet, it is out in the wild. I do agree that if you screw up the typing, you can “fix” it with a delete/repost.
@philly_bits: i do the same: only for corrections
@starshine_diva: I usually delete for grammar or bad links. Or really really really crappy typos.
@simasays: Not sure about dishonest omission but I do the same thing b/c I’m a tight@ss like that :)
@tracytran: It’s fine to delete your post if it’s spelling. You won’t get a big ego on the # of updates. Be careful on certain words.
@ShinyHappyHead: I too will delete a tweet and repost if only to correct spelling or some other grammatical faux poo. :-D
phreddd: Grammar is allowable to me – you SHOULD want your words to fly right!

Absolute:
@petersonwally: I’ve never even considered deleting a tweet. If I said it, I said it.

Exceptions:
@mwecker: what about accidentally replying instead of DMing?
@rshreeves: I sometimes put a link up to get the tiny url, copy it, then quickly delete. Then post my tweet with tiny url to make it fit.
@krisaloma: Agreed.. Sometimes though I will delete a post if I think it was in haste and bad taste.
@SpokeWithPics: Sometimes I feel that I need to delete tweets because anyone reading through the thread may get wrong impression w/o context

Relaxed:
@shaunduke: I don’t see anything wrong with deleting tweets to fix them. I don’t personally do it, but that doesn’t bug me at all.
@hollie8: I think you are safe, for English sakes.
@OldieHawn: You may be overthinking it. Just my 2 pennies.

The feedback immediately led me to amend and clarify my position:

Lots of response on deleting tweets, thanks; reminding me I also delete for grammar, & tweets I meant to DM. I better go delete my last! :-)

Coincidentally, I have since deleted a Tweet I had intended as a DM, and thought of another reason; to ReTweet the same message to a different crowd after enough hours have passed. In that case, I delete the original a moment after reposting it verbatim. What do you think?

After even further consideration, I think I might reserve the right to delete when the context changes as well. For example, I might delete after changing my mind on a topic, but not to deny that I ever held a contrary position.

I often talk to journalism students about trusting instincts and following conscience. If deleting brings us closer to the truth, I think it’s ok.

Pretending that I never said something feels dishonest, in my opinion at least. Considering the aplomb with which somesome critics now wield the screen grab, it seems impractical as well.