25 million entries per day, the airport, the snow, the tweet and the subsequent court appearance…

Lots of people have used the social networking site, Twitter.

On average there are reported to be somewhere in the region of 25 million “tweets” (entries) per day.

Paul Chambers, a trainee accountant in the UK made a tweet in January which resulted in him ending up in court this week after being charged with sending a menacing electronic communication. He ended up paying a fine and costs of £1,000.

Back in January of this year he was due to take a flight from Nottingham’s Robin Hood airport but the airport was closed due to snow.

He tweeted: “C**p! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your s*** together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!”

It’s debatable whether the conviction was an over-reaction by the authorities or whether Chambers deserved the fine. Either way, he was fired by his employers and has lost his job.

He’s a trainee accountant and it’s not clear what accounting qualification he’s studying for but does a conviction mean that he will be prevented from qualifying as an accountant? The answer is, “not necessarily”.

If for example, you look at the ACCA’s rules on misconduct then a conviction in itself doesn’t automatically mean that he would be prevented from becoming a member of ACCA. It would all depend on the particular facts of each case that is considered.