The arrest of a 17-year-old boy amid allegations that he posted abusive messages about Olympic diving competitor Tom Daley demonstrates – yet again – the power of the written word wherever it may appear.

In this digitalized, social media-powered age it’s easy to put up comments and air our opinions at the click of a button.

This is, by and large (in my opinion a good thing). Because of this it’s also easy to galvanize the power of the masses, look at the clean up after the London riots last year – all done via a hashtag on Twitter, or the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions, empowered and made possible by the use of social media; Facebook and micro blogging sites like Twitter.

But this power needs to be used responsibly, otherwise the powers that be, may decide – in their always infinite wisdom – may decide to take on that responsibility for us.

The guy who posted the abusive comments on Twitter – and I have to be careful what I write here – obviously wasn’t perhaps so aware of the power of what he had written. The post he did write that caused most of the uproar appeared to be an ill-informed one; i.e. he wrote something without the full facts (namely that Daley’s dad passed away of cancer). Maybe he wouldn’t have written it if he’d know this? We can’t say.

The thing is, most journalist (more so those that work as investigative/news reporters) will have had years of training and continuing professional development to make sure that every word they write is either based on fact or well-considered opinion.

It’s no defence to copy what another journalist has printed either; unless you have the full facts in shorthand notes or documentation, or in some cases video/tape evidence, you shouldn’t be writing it.

As an internet powered journalist (one of the first I might add) I had to do the same belt and braces whenever I clicked that ‘publish’ button on the site. I’ve worked for some pretty big news websites in my time.

Twitter users need to remember that the same rules go for the internet as for print, and everyone who posts anything on Twitter should probably be aware that their comments can be viewed by milllions of people.

It’s not just the trolls who but sites that share news stories, basically cut and pasting other sites stories and passing them off as their own with a  bit of re-write. They need to watch out too. Because if one of those stories is libellous, then you’ll get sued too.

Original, factual well researched writing never goes out of style, otherwise we’ll all end up as twits.

Last Saturday night I was sitting on a plane, failing to sleep due to being surrounded by people reading with their overhead lights on. From my aeroplane seat vantage point, I could see exactly equal numbers of e-readers and books. This got me philosophising on the Kindle debate – who are they for, where should you use them, are they killing books, and every other argument that has already been made.

As you may have already gathered, I am book person. A physical book person. I love the smell and texture of books, the weight of them in my bag. It is satisfying to flaunt what you are reading.

When you stuff a bookmark in (usually a train ticket in my case), you can see exactly how much further you have to go. They go fat and crinkly when you drop them in the bath – something you can’t do with a Kindle!

Having been extremely anti-Kindle, being forced to wear extra clothes on the flight back because I had no room for a new book I had acquired (a large trade paperback!) made me consider a change of heart.

For trains and planes, I concede they may have their place. I am reluctant to say that I can see a place for them on the beach – I was overjoyed to see a man reading a cloth-bound hardback on a sun lounger last week.

In some ways, I think e-readers may have had a positive effect on books. Walk into a bookshop today, you will notice some gorgeous, interesting covers, the benefit you just don’t get from a Kindle.

Penguin’s new English Library classics, for example, are beautiful but affordable. This is likely to be the future of books – attractive and permanent, objects that can be handed down. I approve.

In terms of sales, it is undeniable that e-books are currently and will continue to damage the physical book market. But speak to many Kindle owners, and they will confess to buying titles in both digital and physical forms. To return to the now suffocating subject of the Fifty Shades phenomenon – sales of which are now into their millions – getting your hands on a copy over the weekend was almost impossible. They have been ordered in their thousands and rationed by distributors.

While sales of erotic fiction are up approximately 400% since the launch of e-readers, on this occasion people still want to be seen with the books in their hands.

Children’s books, particularly for 0-5 years will obviously never be replaced by Kindle. There will always be a market for them, and it doesn’t really matter what format they come in. Board books, sticker books, picture books, ‘lift-the-flap’ and ‘touchy-feely’ books.

They could never be replaced by a screen. So, children could be the solution to preventing e-books taking over the world. Catch them when they are young and get them to fall in love with books, then maybe, just maybe, they might keep loving them as adults. I urge you, before you pass over your kindle or iPad, take them to the kids section of a bookshop and see which one makes them happier.