You Are What You Tweet.
It wasn’t so long ago that I'd mention Twitter and catch
glances that made me feel like I belonged in the loony bin. Now though, everyone’s on Twitter.
Celebrities, members of your family, radio and television stations, brand name
companies, the government, and probably even your minister is tweeting. Back in the day when blogging was becoming mainstream, Facebook was just catching on and Twitter was for geeks, one
could get away with saying pretty much whatever they wanted in 140 characters
or less. You could ramble, vent, cuss, tell inside jokes or even make fun of
people (not that I ever did) because no one was really paying attention. But
they are now.
Now, at least once a day, I get a Google alert that includes a link to my tweet. I never know which one it’s going to be so if someone was keeping track, I stand to be embarrassed, taken completely out of context or misunderstood. Hell, I could even be fired or not hired. I might be judged by my peers and made to admit publicly that I was wrong, or worse, caught drunk tweeting.
My point is that today, now that Twitter isn’t just for nerdy rogues; you have to be careful what you tweet. In that sense, you really can’t be yourself (and use your real name) because if you do, you will create a public virtual paper trail for anyone to call you to the mat on if they so choose. At least for me, this changes the peaceful, easy feeling my relationship with Twitter once provided. These days, I spell check, second guess myself and many times let the tweet sit for a few minutes before I hit enter. You know, just in case better judgment smacks me in the head before I’m distracted and start typing again.
And what’s with all of the followers? I used to feel like I was cultivating relationships and carrying on conversations but now with many of my “tweeps” having thousands of followers, it feels more like a popularity contest than a chat. Like who ever can collect the most followers wins. Ick.
The Twitter vibe has changed and I, for one, am not sure if I'm cool with that.
You are what you tweet. Or are you?
Kimberly Petro (or @Kimberle on Twitter) writes about her life in The Ding Dang Woods on her personal blog, Petroville. Come visit.
An original DC Metro Moms post.
