If Twitter Were Human, What Kind of a Person Would It Be?

Posted by Alex in Blog & Internet on April 19, 2009 at 12:16 pm


If Twitter were human, what kind of a person would it be? And, more importantly, would you befriend such a person? Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum has an opinion about what she dubbed the "Age of Oversharing":

… at the risk of unilaterally offending 14 million people, I need to say this: If Twitter were a person, it would be an emotionally unstable person. It would be that person we avoid at parties and whose calls we don’t pick up. It would be the person whose willingness to confide in us at first seems intriguing and flattering but eventually makes us feel kind of gross because the friendship is unearned and the confidence is unjustified. The human incarnation of Twitter, in other words, is the person we all feel sorry for, the person we suspect might be a bit mentally ill, the tragic oversharer.

… as Twitter’s popularity wobbles at the tipping point between faddish distraction and worldwide obsession, it’s worth wondering how much of this "connecting" is simply hastening the erosion of our already compromised interpersonal skills. Are we tweeting because we truly want to communicate with a select group of true friends, or because typing has replaced talking and indiscretion has been stripped of all negative connotations? Are most Twitter posts merely inane, or do they carry the faint whiff of the insane?

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10 comments to "If Twitter Were Human, What Kind of a Person Would It Be?"

  1. Steohawk
    April 19th, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    Twitter may be doing exactly what Daum says, or it could be doing just the opposite. Perhaps it's allowing us to become less afraid of sharing, which if done properly, can increase solidarity. As the Spanish Revolution has taught us, solidarity makes for a better society than the mutual fear and competition that governments like to engineer.

  2. VonSkippy
    April 19th, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    Twitter would be a brain dead whole body organ donor.

  3. chet
    April 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    "Are most Twitter posts merely inane, or do they carry the faint whiff of the insane?"

    Can't it be both?

  4. ted
    April 19th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    Why this obsession with Twitter lately? First it's cat door, then farty chair, now this.

  5. TeaFizz
    April 19th, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    You can't have Twitter without a Twit...

  6. Mouserz
    April 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    Twitter would be an incredibly boring person who doesn't know that.

  7. Shundy Coalfoat
    April 19th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    Twitter is for twits... Twitter is inananity cubed. Twitter is that mexican whore getting gang banged and who looks into the camera and says "look at me".

  8. Woogie
    April 19th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    Twitter CAN be inane, but it all depends on who you follow. The folk I follow are either news outlets, or very interesting people who make me laugh, are smart, and share similar tastes to me. Courtesy of Twitter and the people I follow I've found quite a few new bands I'd never have heard, books I've not heard of etc...

    Like any service, you get back what you put in. Post inane bollocks, you'll only see inane bollocks as the inane people will gravitate toward you.

    For the record I do not have a Facebook, Myspace or any other services like that. Tried Twitter for a laugh when the Appstore debuted, figured I'd never stick around, but found it interesting.

    I would hope those decrying Twitter have tried it before condemning it, but I highly doubt most of you have.

  9. LisaL
    April 20th, 2009 at 1:57 am

    Woogie, b/c we're not cool, right? Right??
    Pulease.......

    Is myspace or facebook or whatever not the "It" thing to do anymore? Is that stuff soooo... 2008, 2007?

    *sigh* It seems like a big fad to me.
    Oh well though, people can do what they want... it's just not for me.

  10. MeghanDaumsOpinionIsWrong
    April 20th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    If Twitter were a human being, Twitter would be the HOST OF THE PARTY. A party in which some guests might overshare.

    LA Times' Meghan Daum has it completely backwards.

    Twitter merely facilitates communication. It's the party guests' responsibility to not drink too much.


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