Yet another Twitter storm appeared tonight after an row between Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand and Mirror journalist Oliver Holt, which resulted in Holt tweeting this and later publishing it on the Mirrors website:

Here's @rioferdy5 opening gambit sent by DM "You fat prick, u got something to say about me missing a drugs test say it when u see me."

June 7, 2011 7:36 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OllieHoltMirror

Oliver Holt

So, is it wrong to publish a DM like this? Or is it fair game? BBC reporter Leon Mann curated some opinions from his follows. A couple are shown below:

@Leon_Mann Not on, a DM is clearly private and for a journalist who speaks about more trust between players & media, Holt hasn't helped that

June 7, 2011 9:02 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@PittTheBlogger

Pitt The Blogger

@Leon_Mann fair game for me, he's just another football who's track of reality and needs to get a grip. No humility.

June 7, 2011 9:03 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@Apoults

Andy Poulton

Plenty more out there.

So is it fair to retweet a DM? Is it the same as publishing an email? Are DM’s private, or public?

I wonder how long it will be until we understand how to live with Twitter…