Stephen Fry quits Twitter

After threatening to cancel his Twitter account last fall over snarky remarks noting that his tweets were dull, British celebrity Stephen Fry has decided to finally bid farewell to the world’s most popular micro-blogging site in order to spend more time writing his autobiography. Fry reportedly requires “zero distraction,” if he is going to be able to finish his book by April, which is the deadline set by his publisher. But news of Fry’s Twitter farewell—where he said good-bye to one million followers this past weekend—is hardly the first time that high profile celebrities mull bringing an end to their micro-blogging endeavours. Ashton Kusher—who has more than 4 million followers—recently threatened to quit Twitter as well, in order to protest the production of a reality show based on the social networking site.

While most western celebrities have signed on to Twitter, the bigger question is: will anyone truly care if they stop micro-blogging, and should the social networking site be used by actors and pop stars who rely on it for little else than self-aggrandizement in the first place? One might argued that Fry’s announced departure from Twitter was little more than a clever marketing ploy as well, since this piece of information generated nearly a hundred pages on Google News, a mere five hours after the announcement.

Despite Fry’s departure, the English celebrity has already hinted that he would eventually return to Twitter and that he “yearns keenly” to once again be in the company of his online followers. Twitter is, no doubt, an important part of Fry’s marketing campaign, as it is for most actors, authors and musicians. In fact, Fry made headlines last year when he got stuck in a lift and even posted photos of his captivity to his Twitter account.