Gov. Rick Perry blocks journalists on Twitter -- really?

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is blocking journalists on Twitter.

But not all journalists?

Does Gov. Perry not grasp that anyone can still read his account? @GovernorPerry is not locked! It's visible to everyone! So this seems like a particularly inane move. It's like telling your mother she can't read your diary and then posting it online. It's like telling anyone he or she can't read anything and posting it online. And if you're sharing information with 30,000 followers on Twitter, well, what are you worried about?

All your account really says about you is that you really like Texas and enjoy the company of dogs. But if you are planning to post embarrassing personal revelations later that you don't want the press to know about, maybe you should reread the Twitter manual, because this isn't really the forum. The idea that anyone anywhere might not be able to find something you posted on Twitter is a modern myth, like reliable WiFi, Winning the Future, or the idea that retiring from Congress when your Craigslist pics surface will prevent Gawker from seeking further details (cough, Christopher Lee, uncough.)

I know that the rise of social media has blurred the lines between friend groups and the General Public. But who has 30,000 close friends? Maybe Gov. Perry does, but that seems like an awful lot of birthdays to keep track of. Sure, it may make him feel somewhat at ease to imagine that the Fourth Estate isn't aware that he found Bo cute and companionable. And there's nothing like the sense that your boss (in his case, the People of Texas) is following you to make you rethink that late-night tweet about how enjoyable you find the music of William Hung. But if you're going to identify yourself on Twitter as GovernorPerry, you need to realize that with great publicity comes some responsibility.

After all, the whole point of all this oversharing social media is to -- well -- overshare. And other people at the same news outlets have access to Gov. Perry's Twitter account! So this just seems silly. They've been nicknaming him Rick Petty. If this continues, I can see why.