Those of you who know me very well are going to find this post a little ironic, mostly because I don’t hang out in bars, in fact I don’t drink alcohol, not even one drop-not ever. However, I am now a confirmed twitter user and I grew up around lots of people who did in fact drink alcohol and often got their alcohol from a bar. Sooo, I’ve been thinking about twitter and how it reminds me of the way people talk and meet at bars. Here is three reasons why.
1. First, in a bar, no one expects great conversation, just tiny snippets of coherent sentences, enough to get the point across. For example, “another one please, or your place or mine” This same simplistic style of communication works equally as well on twitter. You don’t have to bare your soul, just get your point across in 140 characters or less. In fact, I’m guessing that there have been times at bars when a guy or a girl wishes after listening to someone drone on in a drunken stupor, that a little warning message would pop up that says, that’s too many characters. You are going to have to be more creative. Please try again.
2. Second, people on twitter and people in bars, both "put on a face." When we pick out our twitter picture, we choose carefully. Some of us go to the trouble of taking a glamour shot, while others put a picture of our cat. Either way, we put on what I call our dating face. We present ourselves, in our photos, the way we want to be perceived. Now, as for the bar, it has been my experience that most people don’t put on their rattiest shoes and clothes, mess up their hair and makeup and then stroll into bar. It is the same on twitter, we all want to come across as attractive in some way, hence our dating face. Just as a side note, I am personally glad we put our best foot forward. I really don’t want to see what’s hidden behind some of those glam shots.
3. Finally, it is our goal, both on twitter and in a bar to always sound witty. This holds especially true for those of us that fancy ourselves writers. I often skim through twitter, thinking how can they be so creative in less than 140 characters, especially when the attached link takes some of those precious letters away. Similarly, it is common for a guy to walk into a bar with a clever well practiced(sometimes only in his mind) opening line or joke that he plans on using on some unsuspecting girl. Usually, not too long, (after all we are raised on 15 minutes segments of TV shows between commercials) and hopefully funny or clever making it so the person we are talking to thinks that maybe we are funny or clever.
Either way, whether chatting with a stranger in a bar or wielding our best words on twitter, there are parallels. In both places, we try to sound witty and look gorgeous, and yet, in the end we know not much of substance really will be said. Well, I better finish up now. I’ve got to check into my twitter account. See you later.
