Twoliday, Twabbatical, Tweath

There was a recent BBC article on the growing language of Twitter^[1], and I decided to apply this language to my conundrum.

I have noticed that recently a lot of my favourite twitterati have fallen off of twitter, some gradually reduce their tweets, engage less, and generally fade, others seems to just stop. This has led me to considering the idea of a twitter holiday (twoliday), a twitter sabbatical (twabbatical), or the ultimate twitter death (tweath) – I am sure someone has already coined better phrases but this is the best I can do.

I think it is always good to have a Twoliday especially if you have some reason i.e. you actually are on Holiday . I think it is nice not to broadcast your every thought, and to keep some things private from the rest of the world. Also I have noticed when people come back from their Twoliday they have more to say. Obviously there are some occasions where because you are on holiday you will have more to say, and more time to tweet, and more interesting things happen – so you don’t have to use that as your excuse to have a mini-break. I think the breather also lets you connect with what you are doing – I feel like sometimes people are so busy tweeting about stuff they forget to enjoy it, and forget to enjoy it with the people they are with in the real world - for me it’s a bit like the people that go to a gig, or concert only then to video the whole thing through their camera or phone, but watch the camera more than they do the stage, and then end up actually missing out on the experience.

I have to admit I am currently going through a Twabbatical and I am oddly enjoying it. In a recent discussion with someone I said about twitter “you only get out what you put in” – so if you are a lunatic, you will get insanity out, and if you angry, you will grief out, if you are flirty you will get fun times (probably) out of it. I think my problem was that I was putting in inane rubbish and therefore getting it out. I had lost anything relevant to say. I think the problem came when for about 7 days I couldn’t tweet as I had such limited signal, and then on getting back I didn’t really have much to say, so I tried really hard, and then I just seemed like I was trying. Also it felt like I had followed so many people that my timeline was getting confused, I was struggling to follow people, and certain people that annoyed me and I loved to hate were turning from deliciously annoying to just plain repugnant. Of course everyone is allowed their view and everyone is allowed their say and I have no problem with people expressing a different opinion to me – in fact I welcome a bit of lively debate. But it does annoy me that there are influential people on twitter that don’t enter into debate but state their opinion, and there is a strong pressure to conform.

Then there is the ultimate. The Tweath – your twitter death – I have known some to be resurrected, but others have taken the plunge never to return. I have to admit I get it and am more and more tempted. I sometimes feel like I have been sucked into twitter and that I know more about what is going on in a random person’s life than I do my friends, or that I have the same circular conversations with people “good morning, how are you?”, “good night sleep well” – don’t get me wrong I would say twitter has introduced me to some lovely people, some attractive people and some lovely attractive people (a bonus) – some of which probably don’t know I exist – but that is fine, I don’t need them to. But those that I really care about I have met, and I interact with, whether it be through facebook, or in actual real life.

I could give you a long list of the people I like, but that would be embarrassing and weird – so I hope they know who they are. I probably will be back (probably tomorrow).

^[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14785537

The Stealth Account and the Media Account

Someone recently mentioned to me that they had a stealth account. Of course this had occurred to me before, and I quite like the idea. It could be the account where you could be exactly who you want to be - you could be completely open, uncensored, bold and untouchable because you couldn't be linked to the real life you. I already can hear people saying "I am already like that on my normal account" and although I don't doubt there are some people that are mostly true to themselves, I think most people become altered online - whether it's more flirty, less open, or just a slightly exaggerated caricature of themselves.

I like the idea of a stealth account as it enables the user to be completely open, they can:

a) Hate people - whether it be other twitter users, famous people, private people - without the judgement of everyone out there.

b) You can have an open relationship without some people clutching their pearls and slightly looking down their nose at it.

c) They can shag around (like most gay men do especially the single ones) again without everyone clutching their pearls.

d) They can have fringe views without being brow-beaten into accepting the common consensus.

e) They can not follow back, or follow the same people as everyone else, they can not respond to tweets or ignore DMs without being vilified. (This goes in direct contraction to my earlier blogs, but here I mean that this anonymity allows people to forget to respond to the odd tweet, or do it two days later without getting judged - not just choose who to reply to based on who their friends are - and if you are using a stealth account to share an experience you may not necessarily want to follow back everyone that follows you)

However in direct contradiction to the Stealth Account is the Media Account. I know I will probably get some people rolling their eyes at this because of course celebrities will use their account as a way of interacting with their fans, but I don't mean celebrities, or anyone that would be considered famous - I mean those with a huge following but for no apparent reason. I have seen a lot of them both gay and straight, male and female.  This type of account is one I generally oppose and I wont follow for very long.

The reason I cant stand this type of account is that it is completely disingenuous and often their tweets can seem contradictory. They use it to push their "persona" whether it be in a semi professional sense, or in a private sense, but this isn't the real them, you don't get a 'warts-an-all' experience - you get a highly tailored experience to only show off their very best side. Of course no-one wants to show every aspect of their soul on facebook or twitter, but to claim to be completely open and to share yourself through twitter, but then only show the sides that you think will best suit your fans seems to me to be totally deceptive.

Again to clarify, I don't care if you don't want to tell me your shoe size, what you had for dinner, or what you and your partner do in the bedroom, but I don't want to hear that your life is all happiness and sunshine all the time, that you love everything although sometimes you get sad [ sad face ], but that you will never go into it, but you will promote you amazing nights out, your latest bit of work, your great workout, your fabulous friends, the party you go to z-list celebs, or even A-list celebs, that you love all the right things and will not do one singular controversial thing in all the god given day, you will lightly flirt, but never say anything outrageous, and all the while claim you are an open book and it can all be seen on twitter.

It all gets too much for me as its all too sanitised and has the feeling of a PR person pulling my leg. I am no media guru but I know enough that I know that the likes of  Will Young, Russell Tovey, or Scott Mills aren't ever going to say they went to The Hoist and spent all night in a sling, and I don't expect everyone that does it to splatter it all over twitter - but come on, lets not all pretend we haven't seen a penis before. However there are pitfalls that I dont think these people realise when promoting themselves as being so wholesome and well rounded:

a) I have to admit I am a gossipy queen, and if there is one thing a gossipy queen attracts it's gossip. People love to tell me stuff about everyone - why? Because I am a completely receptive audience (I'm not showing off - it's not an attractive quality but it is true). Therefore, I often hear what is happening behind the scenes.

b) we live in a small community especially if you consider gays on twitter. I feel like there is probably about a 1 degree of separation on Twitter - I oddly have found people that know my boyfriend, that I went to school with, that are close friends of my friends, that I knew when I was 16.

c) everyone that has gaydar, or grindr can see what you are doing, and they like to tell everyone behind your back.

d) we can see you when you are out and drunk and doing all those things you pretend you don't do.

e) people will hate you, or dislike and this leads them to bitching about you, and if you want to maintain that you are St Saintly of Sainthood then you cant rise to it, or engage with it, or be annoyed, because you are after all a well oiled PR machine, and if you let the crack show then it proves my point and you are not the butter-wouldn't-melt-girl-guide you make yourself out to be.