A while back, a friend of mine was all “holy shit, you have a lot of followers on Twitter. I hope you use your power for good.”
I laughed it off, because seriously? I am not a big deal. I have around 2,600 followers, and many of them are spam accounts. I’ve frequently wondered why I have ANY followers, considering I have pretty much zero etiquette on Twitter. I swear on there, I talk about shit, I talk shit, I goof off, I overshare.
That stuck with me though. I try to watch myself on Twitter. It doesn’t always work out. I’ve bitched about Sarasota County and gotten emails from the Clerk of the Court. I’ve bitched about an ad network and gotten a somewhat stern email from them. I freaked out about GoDaddy and got a phone call from a service tech within minutes. You don’t have to be a big deal to inspire action. Many corporate Twitter accounts have interns/employees doing major search action all day to find active “conversations” about brands.
On Twitter, everyone can hear you scream.
That’s why, when Heather Armstrong tweeted in all caps several times yesterday, it ruffled my feathers.
With great power comes great responsibility.
And yes, having a million Twitter followers—many of whom adore you—is great power. Do I believe that Dooce really wanted all these people to start boycotting Maytag and going crazy on her behalf? Of course not. I’d like to believe that this was a woman at the end of her rope, having a bad day, stressed from caring for her newborn, and venting on the Twitters.
But, I do believe she—as any pseudo-celebrity—has a certain responsibility to wield her power judiciously. Complain? Fuck yeah, complain. Suggest a boycott? Not so much.
I don’t need people to agree with me on this.
Inciting a small riot over a personal slight, even unintentionally—and failing to attempt to quell it—is a selfish use of influence and notoriety.
I don’t read Dooce often, but I stop by her site once in a while. I actually bought the Business of Being Born for my cousin based on her birth story. She has influence—even over those who don’t frequently read her. (I don’t even follow her on Twitter.)
I know she seems to be hurt by this whole fiasco, and I know that she is “just a person.” But she is also a person who makes a fairly decent living as a public figure on the Internet. An unfortunate (for her) side effect of that identity is that she will always be subject to harsher criticism and closer scrutiny than those of us who use social media to fuck around with our friends and post updates about our infants blasting shit out of a diaper.
People are going to make fun of Dooce. I am going to make fun of Dooce sometimes, same as I would any pop culture figure. (Because let’s be honest, she is a pop culture figure.) I’m going to call her out when I feel like calling her out. I think she acted like a spaz about her washing machine. Does that mean I hate her? No. Relax, people.
So.
Yesterday, when Dooce tweeted about other businesses offering her free appliances, it struck a raw nerve with me. Yes, she is a big figure online. But I don’t believe that status entitles her to that sort of offering from corporations. Note: I am not faulting her, I am faulting the corporations throwing appliances at her because a million people follow her on Twitter. Really, corporations? I bet there are better ways to give away free washers. Instead of kissing up to Twitter-celebs, why not engage in public outreach? People will notice.
In my fit of pissiness I tweeted twice to Dooce suggesting she find a way to get those appliances redirected for a good cause. (I suggested a women’s shelter.) It got retweeted a handful of times and eventually Dooce replied telling me something was in the works.
For the record, I died. Like, I fell over and a little ghost Maria floated off to the sky because this tweet showing up in my replies column? Terrifying! Terror!! I imagined the hoards coming after me the way they had gone after Sundry earlier in the day. (Sundry, along with MANY others, questioned Dooce’s Maytag tweets. For some reason she got singled out. Mayhaps because she is awesome.)
But Dooce’s reply was also cool. You know? It had to be difficult to reply civilly considering the nutball silly tweets I lambasted toward her earlier in the day.
I hate that the shitstorm is continuing today. I hate that this debacle is news. This isn’t the first time a Tweet has made waves.
I don’t know what the fallout of this will be, but yesterday was a highly interesting day in the world of social media and responsibility and weirdness. I don’t want credit for the fact that I suggested the charity thing to Dooce. I’m sure other people did the same, she just happened to reply to me. It wasn’t exactly an original idea—and for the record the only reason I tweeted it at her was because I was full of fiery Internet-rage over the whole fiasco.
I hope this incident inspires thoughtful discussion, good-natured humor and healthy arguments.
I hope this incident stops inspiring mindless trolling. Maytag, Sundry, Dooce, Jesus Christ and countless others don’t actually need people running around dropping incendiary comments on blogs in defense or attack.
Mob mentality can suck a hairy dick.
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