Twitter Bios and What They Really Say

The New York Times calls Twitter bios "a postmodern art form." What? I never paid much attention to the little blurbs on anyone's Twitter profile, because I rarely go to a profile, and I sorta know the folks there already. I did not know there was a Twitter bio style that has evolved.

The standard bio is a staccato string of statuses and interests separated by commas or periods. Frequently, one’s parental status is tossed in, particularly by men who seem to want public credit for fatherhood (“Proud papa to three adorable kids who destroy everything in sight”).

Then there are the addenda, the hobbies and passions and random facts. As Alex Blagg, a writer, noted in a blog post, these are often punctuated by self-aggrandizing words like “addict” or “junkie” (as in “coffee addict” or “CrossFit junkie”); “enthusiast,” “aficionado” or “geek” (“Breaking Bad aficionado”); the glamorous suffix “-ista” (“accountantista”); or the “super-heroic” tag of “guy” or “girl” (“war reporter guy,” “hedge fund girl”).

The article goes on to describe quite a few celebrities' bios and how well they fit in with the trends. Maybe I should start paying attention to those. Mine could probably be more trendy. What was I thinking, using a complete sentence? That's totally against the Twitter culture.

Alex doesn't tweet much outside of the Neatorama account, so I had to search. Did you know there are hundreds of Alex Santosos on Twitter? I don't recognize any of them. But I ran across my daughters, who are well aware of the modern conventions of Twitter bios.  -via Boing Boing