INTERNET psychologist Graham Jones said Twitter users should always pause for 20 seconds before posting material on the microblogging site.

And he said the case of Ikram Choudhury – the man who tweeted a picture of a dying man lying in an Edinburgh road, rather than helping him – is yet another example of someone tweeting without considering the consequences.

Jones said: “There is an element of psychology when it comes to helping others in difficult situations known as bystander behaviour.

“What happens is we find it very tough to help people in a difficult situation, even though we know they should be helped, unless we see other people helping first.”

Jones said the Twitter format had lulled people into a false state of security.

He said: “When people tell a joke, the kind of humour they share with their friends might be OK among a group of half a dozen mates. Beyond the group, that humour is deemed inappropriate or not acceptable.

“On Twitter people think they are just talking to their friends, but they have not realised that they are talking to the world.

“The social cues that people get are that it is a friendly place to be, and so it makes them do things they would not normally do in a bigger group.”

The Reading-based psychologist said people did not have any signals that they should read before tweeting.

He added: “In a normal social situation, when you think ‘should I say this?’, or ‘should I do this?’, you take into account all the different non-verbal cues of the people around you and the other social pressures of the people around you.

“We haven’t got any of those signals on Twitter, or any feedback as to what other people are thinking.

“What happens is we publish or tweet, the world sees it, and then we get our reaction. It’s then that we feel embarrassed or upset about our behaviour.”

Jones said: “Always pause before you press the send button.”