Maybe it's just me, but I feel like you can really learn a lot about someone from their Twitter feed. In such a digital age where the majority of us are obsessed with documenting our every move (myself included), I always question whether sites such as Twitter are more detrimental than beneficial. I've been in a love-hate relationship with Twitter since 2008, but since more people have labelled it their go to site, I've learned things about them that I didn't really want to know, or that I wouldn't have expected them to share online.
I think the most difficult thing is deciding how you want to portray yourself on the internet. With blogs, they tend to be an open space and people are mostly positive, which is great. But with Twitter because updates are so short and it's so quick to post, I think people sometimes forget who their audience is and just lash out by saying things that in retrospect they'll probably regret. I think this is more so a problem for people who are trying to market themselves as a brand, whether that's for their blogging purpose or otherwise.
This hasn't been my experience with every blogger that I've followed on Twitter, but in a few cases I have fallen in love with someones blog, followed them on Twitter and then immediately regretted it. The regret is usually because their timeline is filled with how insecure they were/are about posting a certain post (or several), or how they look "fat, ugly, or some other derogatory and untrue term" in the latest photos they've just posted. I don't know if it's cruel of me to get annoyed by those comments, as someone is merely expressing their feelings, but in some cases it comes across as begging for compliments, and tends to tarnish their blog post in my opinion. This isn't a personal attack on bloggers, as I follow a few other people including musicians and actresses that post their every thought, whether it's increasingly negative or not. Now this isn't to say I don't post negative tweets every now and again either, because I do, but they're never delivered in a way that I think could be interpreted differently from their original intent.
As I mentioned, I think it's a bigger problem for people who are marketing themselves as a brand. As someone who runs two businesses and is studying Journalism I often think I need to be careful about what I post online, and whatever I post I make sure that I would be happy if a potential employer was to see it. It's kind of like where teachers and other industry professionals remove all of their drunken tagged photos on Facbook to present a better image of themselves - regardless of whether they were doing anything wrong or not. For me, I don't mind so much on Facebook because my photos are private for those people who aren't my friends, but Twitter is a different story.
When I made my first account in 2008 I was 15, and believe me I talked some complete shit. I would be embarrassed to download my archive, and portraying a negative vibe was something I never really thought about. As the years went on, my Twitter to continued to be filled with mostly rubbish until I started going to university - which I really hate. I noticed that my timeline became a place for me to display my hatred about university and figured that was something not everyone wanted to see. I was trying to connect with music industry professionals and those in the blogging world, and thought they wouldn't take me seriously if I was hating on my degree and being constantly negative. With that in mind, I made that Twitter private, unfollowed everyone I didn't know and now I only use it when I have something negative to say about university. I created a new Twitter, the username is my fullname, and it shows a better reflection of who I am and what I want to achieve. I want to state that I don't have two Twitter's to hide a part of myself, but it's more so to restrict negativity because I feel like we can often be subconsciously affected by other people's tweets and responses, and I didn't want to be a negative influencer.
Do you think people should censor their negative tweets, but then again isn't the point of the internet to express your feelings? See now I'm practically contradicting myself and this is why I never make decisions. This could be considered as a controversial post, but in reality I'm just torn about my Twitter thoughts. I would love to hear your thoughts about this. Drop me a comment!
This hasn't been my experience with every blogger that I've followed on Twitter, but in a few cases I have fallen in love with someones blog, followed them on Twitter and then immediately regretted it. The regret is usually because their timeline is filled with how insecure they were/are about posting a certain post (or several), or how they look "fat, ugly, or some other derogatory and untrue term" in the latest photos they've just posted. I don't know if it's cruel of me to get annoyed by those comments, as someone is merely expressing their feelings, but in some cases it comes across as begging for compliments, and tends to tarnish their blog post in my opinion. This isn't a personal attack on bloggers, as I follow a few other people including musicians and actresses that post their every thought, whether it's increasingly negative or not. Now this isn't to say I don't post negative tweets every now and again either, because I do, but they're never delivered in a way that I think could be interpreted differently from their original intent.
As I mentioned, I think it's a bigger problem for people who are marketing themselves as a brand. As someone who runs two businesses and is studying Journalism I often think I need to be careful about what I post online, and whatever I post I make sure that I would be happy if a potential employer was to see it. It's kind of like where teachers and other industry professionals remove all of their drunken tagged photos on Facbook to present a better image of themselves - regardless of whether they were doing anything wrong or not. For me, I don't mind so much on Facebook because my photos are private for those people who aren't my friends, but Twitter is a different story.
When I made my first account in 2008 I was 15, and believe me I talked some complete shit. I would be embarrassed to download my archive, and portraying a negative vibe was something I never really thought about. As the years went on, my Twitter to continued to be filled with mostly rubbish until I started going to university - which I really hate. I noticed that my timeline became a place for me to display my hatred about university and figured that was something not everyone wanted to see. I was trying to connect with music industry professionals and those in the blogging world, and thought they wouldn't take me seriously if I was hating on my degree and being constantly negative. With that in mind, I made that Twitter private, unfollowed everyone I didn't know and now I only use it when I have something negative to say about university. I created a new Twitter, the username is my fullname, and it shows a better reflection of who I am and what I want to achieve. I want to state that I don't have two Twitter's to hide a part of myself, but it's more so to restrict negativity because I feel like we can often be subconsciously affected by other people's tweets and responses, and I didn't want to be a negative influencer.
Do you think people should censor their negative tweets, but then again isn't the point of the internet to express your feelings? See now I'm practically contradicting myself and this is why I never make decisions. This could be considered as a controversial post, but in reality I'm just torn about my Twitter thoughts. I would love to hear your thoughts about this. Drop me a comment!
P.s I've created a survey to help me with a big project at university and be ever so grateful if you could fill it out and/or share it with anyone who might take part. Let me know if you do it, and I'll give you a virtual high five!
i've thought a lot about my twitter lately because a couple of gallery/art institutions started following me over the summer, so i wondered about whether or not i should "professionalise" it a little bit - but then i decided that, as long as i wasn't just writing complete nonsense, it shouldn't really matter because a company that wouldn't hire me on the basis of a swear word or two in my personal twitter isn't a company i'd like to work for anyway!
ReplyDeletegreat, thought provoking post :)
the hobbit kitchen x
I think starting over was a really wise choice.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I still haven't really jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, and although I have an account I rarely use it, and even then it's only to tweet at celebrities, which my friends make fun of me for. I think my peeve about it is the same as yours: all the negativity. I rarely post statuses on facebook for the same reason. Even though I enjoy reading about other people's disasters, I suppose I don't really want them to read about mine. But I think I get where you're coming from. And maybe you can use your new twitter as a force for good!
I do not have Twitter and I'd like to keep it that way. hahaha I've actually never read anyone's tweet's or gotten on there at all. I'm just not interested and from what you are saying it sounds like it's for the best. I do think people should be careful what they say because in most cases they are just "venting" at that moment and they after a few days they look back at and don't even feel that way anymore. I know I was like that with my My Space when that was really popular. hahaha Good post, thanks for making me NOT want a Twitter even more. ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree, sometimes it might seem like a good idea to quickly leave a harsh opinion or complain about stuff on Twitter. Just hit publish and move on! But I'm sure it doesn't benefit anyone, so I try not to. :-)
ReplyDeleteI try to stay positive--who wants to read a twitter feed full of moans? Also, take into consideration that if you want certain careers your online activities will be sifted through for security clearances. Don't do or say anything that you wouldn't want to see on the news. Or indeed, in an interview.
ReplyDeleteBTW, filled in your survey!