Yep, someone had a great idea, and it’s up for a mashable award and everything. Honestly, I was really intrigued, decided to follow twitter leaks, and checked out a bunch of them. So, the site is legit, and a lot of the things that people post are really funny. It’s one of those things that’s amusing for a little while.
(For those not familiar with Twitter Leaks, it’s a site where you can say whatever you want that you would like to tweet yourself on Twitter, but are afraid to. The site then makes it an anonymous tweet from their account that cannot be traced back to you at all, but can still go to the masses.)
Here’s the question though, “How long until this falls apart?”
That question has nothing to do with the designers, who did an awesome job, but with us as people. The biggest problem is that people will, without fail, abuse the site and post nonsense. Already there are a lot of “does this really work?” type tweets coming up, and some gibberish. Hopefully for the sake of the site, this will be the vast minority, but I doubt it. I think it will increase and the site will slowly fade, but after a job well done.
The bigger problem, however, is the fact that we need anonymity (as if the internet hasn’t provided enough of that already). I dream of a world where one day people will be able to say what they really feel. Most people now, won’t. And I guess that’s okay. Like mom said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all. But, to hide behind a wall and say it, some of the accountability is taken away. Now I can say a hurtful thing without people knowing it was me. I don’t have a black mark that people can see. I can say whatever I want with no consequence.
So, how about living by the rule of integrity. If I can’t say it with my name attached to it, whether it be twitter, facebook, a letter, email, or whatever, I won’t. If I feel strongly, I’ll be bold enough to say it and have whatever discussion may need to be said.
Yes, this is coming from someone who does struggle with open, direct communication that can be difficult. I’m trying though, and I’m not going to do it behind a wall.
You would not believe some of the stuff we don’t let go through – given the opportunity, the personal attacks started almost immediately – that was a road I didn’t want to go down, thus the no @’s and no #’s – My goal wasn’t to make it easier to hurt people, that’s plenty easy without twitterleaks.
I think that people let themselves be funnier when they aren’t trying to protect their “online persona”, so that was the real motivation behind the site. I was hoping for funny reading, and so far, I haven’t been let down..
How long until it falls apart? Your guess is as good as mine – still early to tell if it has legs, but I hope it sticks around for a bit..
glad you liked the idea ,
Bob
First of all, I’m actually amazed that you not only found this blog, but actually commented. Thanks for that!
I hope the tone was right. In my context, we’re working building greater honesty and authenticity. That was more the point of what i was talking about using twitterleaks as an example. It sounds like you know, but let me say it again, I do love what you guys have done and think the idea is genius. It really was funny, and I enjoy it. Seems like it’s worked out great. I hope it sticks around too…in a good way.
I cannot imagine the crap that you guys have to filter, though I imagine there’s hilarious stuff in there that you can’t share as well. Oh well, maybe when there’s a twitterleak leak.