This entry was posted on 24th October 2011 at 11:31am under Technology.
Tags: technology, trends, twitter
cunningtitle
RSS FeedTalking Twitter: Very Public Speaking
A friend recently pointed out to me a slightly worrying trend on Twitter: a series of tweets about banning ugly women from certain places/activities.
He accused those posting the tweets of misogyny, and he may well have a point – there was no corresponding trend for things that ugly men should be banned from.
I’m not going to go off on a rant about it. Yet I’m curious as to what sort of mindset caused the trend. Inevitably, there will be a huge amount of “I was only joking” responses, not to mention “I didn’t mean it”.
Pressed further, I suspect the majority of those who tweeted anything along those lines would acknowledge all sorts of broadly academic points, such as the subjectiveness of appearance, the link to self esteem, and how the comments could be construed literally. I also imagine that many would be horrified at the prospect that a friend or someone they know might consider themselves “ugly” and take the remarks personally.
The thing about Twitter is how public it is – every remark made is openly available to anyone unless specifically directed at someone through a DM (Direct Message). Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but I don’t think the views expressed are entirely the consequence of people thinking those views are “OK”, but rather a consequence of not knowing enough about how public their remarks are.
When it’s published, it’s available to everyone with internet access, and with caching is almost certainly stored forever. I wonder if a little more caution might dramatically affect what trends.