The First GM Human Embryo Could Dramatically Alter the Future
Human_embryo “The advance of genetic engineering makes it quite conceivable that we will begin to design our own evolutionary progress.”
~Isaac Asimov, famous thinker and sci-fi writer
Cornell University researchers in New York revealed that they had produced what is believed to be the world’s first genetically altered human embryo—an ironic twist considering all the criticism the US has heaped on South Korea over the past several years for going “too far” with its genetic research programs. The Cornell team, led by Nikica Zaninovic, used a virus to add a green fluorescent protein gene, to a human embryo left over from an in vitro fertilization procedure. The research was presented at a meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine last year, but details have emerged only after new controversy has emerged over the ethics and science of genetically modifying humans.
Zaninovic has pointed out that in order to be sure that the new gene had been inserted and the embryo had been genetically modified, scientists would ideally want to keep growing the embryo and carry out further tests. However, the Cornell team did not get permission to keep the embryo alive. The GM embryos created could theoretically have become the world’s first genetically altered man or woman, but it was destroyed after five days.
British regulators form the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), have warned that such controversial experiments cause “large ethical and public interest issues”.
Much of the debate stems from the fact that the effects of genetically altering an embryo would be generational and permanent. In other words, if we create a mutant baby and it grows up to have children of it’s own—they’ll all be mutant gene carriers too. Genes injected into embryos and reproductive cells, such as sperm, affect every cells in the body and would be passed on to future generations. Critics say current humans don’t have the right to tamper with the gene pool of future generations.
On the other hand, proponents of such technology say that this science could potentially erase diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and even cancer. In theory, any “good” gene could be added to embryos to offset any “bad” genes they are currently carrying. That could potentially mean the difference between life and death for many children.
John Harris, the Sir David Alliance Professor of Bioethics at Manchester University, takes it a step further. He believes that as parents, citizens, and scientists, we are morally obliged to do whatever we can genetically to make life better and longer for our children and ourselves. Society currently devotes so much energy and resources towards saving lives, which, in reality, is simply postponing death, he notes. If it is right to save life, Harris reasons, then it should also be right to postpone death by stemming the flow of diseases that carry us to the grave.
For Harris, having the ability to improve our species lot in life but refusing to do so, makes little sense. He has a difficult time understanding why some people are so insistent that we shouldn’t try to improve upon human evolution.
“Can you imagine our ape ancestors getting together and saying, ‘this is pretty good, guys. Let’s stop it right here!’. That’s the equivalent of what people say today.”
Ethicists, however, warn that genetically modifying embryos will lead to designer babies preloaded with socially desirable traits involving height, intelligence and coloring.
Dr David King, director of Human Genetics Alert, warns, “This is the first step on the road that will lead to the nightmare of designer babies and a new eugenics.”
Harris, however, doesn’t support that argument. He says it’s not about “beauty” it’s about health, and what parent wouldn’t want a healthy child, he asks.
“Certainly, sometimes we want competitive advantage [for our children], but for the enhancements I talk about, the competitive advantage is not the prime motive. I didn’t give my son a good diet in the hope that others eat a bad diet and die prematurely. I’m happy if everyone has a good diet. The moral imperative should be that enhancements are generally available because they are good for everyone.”
The only other route to equality, he says, is to level down so that everyone is as uneducated, unhealthy and unenhanced as the lowest in society – which would be much more unethical in his opinion. Even though we can’t offer a liver transplant to all who need them, he says, we still carry them out for the lucky few. “Much better to try to raise the baseline, even if some are left behind.”
The Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill in currently under consideration in Britain will likely make it legal to create GM embryos in that country, but only for research—implantation in the womb will still be banned—at least for now. However, ethicists believe that the legislation could easily be relaxed even further in the future.
People who believe that genetically modified humans is something way into the future might want to consider that many experts are worried that some forms of it are already happening in the sports world.
Faster, bigger, better, stronger—in theory, the single most effective way to radically alter your physical capacities is to manipulate your genes. Athletes are beginning to take notice. Now that we’ve mapped out the human genome and identified exactly which genes make you buff, tough and rough—experts are concerned about the future of genetic doping.
Gene doping could spawn athletes capable of out-running, out-jumping and out-cycling even the world’s greatest champions. However, researchers at the University of Florida are attempting to prevent that from happening by detecting the first cases of gene doping in professional athletes before the practice becomes mainstream.
Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), responsible for monitoring the conduct of athletes, is working with investigators around the globe to develop testing to identify competitors who have injected themselves with genetic material that is capable of enhancing muscle mass or heightening endurance.
“If an athlete injects himself in the muscle with DNA, would we be able to detect that?” asked one of France’s leading gene therapy researchers, Philippe Moullier, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Gene Therapy Laboratory at the Universite de Nantes in France.
Right now, he says the answer is clearly “no”. But that may soon change. The UF scientists are among several groups collaborating with national and global anti-doping organizations to develop a test that can detect evidence of “doped” DNA.
“WADA has had a research program in place for some years now, to try to develop tests for gene-based doping,” said Theodore Friedmann, M.D., head of the agency’s panel on genetic doping and director of the gene therapy program at the University of California, San Diego.
Nearly every day now we are inundated with new genetic discoveries. Scientists can now pinpoint many specific genes including being lean, living a long life, improved self-healing, thrill seeking behavior, and having an improved memory among many other incredible traits. Many believe that these genes can be manipulated in ordinary humans, in effect creating Super-Mutants.
Theoretically, options are nearly limitless. Even a gene that exists in another species could be brought over to a human cell. Imagine some of the incredible traits of the animal kingdom that some humans don’t possess such as night vision, amazing agility, or the ability to breath underwater. The precedence for these types of radical changes is already in place. Experimental mice, for example, were successfully given the human ability to see in color. If animals can be engineered to have human traits, then humans can certainly be mutated to have desirable animal traits.
It is even thought possible to so drastically alter human genomes that a type of superhuman species could emerge. The fear with germline engineering is that since it is inheritable, offspring and all succeeding generations would carry the modified traits. This is one reason why this type of engineering is currently banned- it could lead to irreversible alteration of the entire human species.
Ethics, not scientific limitations, is the real brick wall. Most scientists believe manipulating genes in order to make an individual healthy is a noble and worthwhile pursuit. Some are against even that notion, arguing that historically amazing individuals have sometimes been plagued by genetic mental and physical disorders, which inadvertently shaped the greatness of their lives. Should we rob the human race of character shaping frailty? Very few scientists would dare to publicly endorse the idea of using genetic engineering to make a normal, healthy individuals somehow superior to the rest of the human race.
“The push to redesign human beings, animals and plants to meet the commercial goals of a limited number of individuals is fundamentally at odds with the principle of respect for nature,”
said Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth in his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
However, would it be so bad if the human race were slightly improved? What if a relatively simple procedure could make an individual and his or her offspring resistant to cancer? After all, Nature isn’t always right. Nature has naturally selected many people to carry the burden of uncomfortable and often lethal genetic disorders. If nature knows best, then shouldn’t we quit trying to “improve” upon nature by “curing” people of genetic conditions we consider inferior? Many say we shouldn’t change human genetics, UNLESS it’s the RIGHT thing to do. Who gets to decide where the line is between righteous endeavor and the corruption of nature? These are the questions facing our generation.
Posted by Rebecca Sato
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Facebook Users' Verdict On Redesign: Hate! - CBS News
So there's a new Facebook app out there, designed to poll users on the social network's latest redesign. The results? Hundreds of thousands have responded. 94 percent give it a thumbs-down. Ouch.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Facebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesign
261 Comments
by Michael Arrington on March 19, 2009
A Facebook application is polling users on the the new site layout . So far, just over 5% of the nearly 800,000 respondents give it a thumbs up. The rest go the other way.
Users can also leave comments with their thoughts. Recent user comments include “Missing so many features I used to adore. I am saddened,” “Please change it back to the way it was,” and “I hate it and if it doesn’t change I will only check it once in awhile.” Ah, the fickle user.
Until January users and advertisers could create polls directly within Facebook, and the company used them extensively at the Davos World Economic Forum. It would be great it they brought that feature back directly.
get widgetminimize
CrunchBase Information
Facebook
Facebook image
Website: facebook.com
Location: Palo Alto, California, United States
Founded: February 1, 2004
Funding: $516M
On February 4th, 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook, a social network that was at the time exclusively for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the stu schools in… Learn More
Information provided by CrunchBase
261 Comments
by Michael Arrington on March 19, 2009
A Facebook application is polling users on the the new site layout . So far, just over 5% of the nearly 800,000 respondents give it a thumbs up. The rest go the other way.
Users can also leave comments with their thoughts. Recent user comments include “Missing so many features I used to adore. I am saddened,” “Please change it back to the way it was,” and “I hate it and if it doesn’t change I will only check it once in awhile.” Ah, the fickle user.
Until January users and advertisers could create polls directly within Facebook, and the company used them extensively at the Davos World Economic Forum. It would be great it they brought that feature back directly.
get widgetminimize
CrunchBase Information
Facebook image
Website: facebook.com
Location: Palo Alto, California, United States
Founded: February 1, 2004
Funding: $516M
On February 4th, 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook, a social network that was at the time exclusively for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the stu schools in… Learn More
Information provided by CrunchBase
Home / Featured / Network / Social Media Marketing / Twitter / The 14 Types of Twitter Personalities
The 14 Types of Twitter Personalities
Tweet ItTwitter. It’s all the rage with news sources, celebrities, politicians, and millions of everyday folks getting in and playing around with it. The premise was simple: in 140 characters or less, answer a simple question that your followers and anyone who visits your page can see: “What are you doing?”
Since its creation, Twitter has both stayed the same and experienced evolutionary changes. The premise hasn’t changed, but what it means to people and how they use it have changed dramatically up until now. While more uses will certainly pop up, for now, everyone can be classified as having one or more of the following Twitter personalities.
These personalities and how we present them to the world define our uses and intentions on the Twittersphere. Whether we know it or not, these snippets of life that we cram into 140 characters say more about us as Tweeple than they say about us as people. For many, the distinction between the two is very thin.
The Purist
The site asks, “What are you doing?” and that’s exactly what The Purist delivers. This is the point where many new users start. Many of them continue indefinitely, following the lines of the original intent of the site to truly microblog every aspect of their life, whether exciting or mundane.
Tweeting Style:
* Good morning Twitter.
* I am doing ____ now
* I am at ___ now
* I _____ed just now
* I’m _____ing right now.
* Good night Twitter.
The Clever Purist
The Clever Purist will answer the question just as stated. The difference between them and The Purist is that they put a spin on their tweets to make their actions more entertaining or interesting than they really are. These users can accumulate a strong following once they are noticed as other users see them as adding value a notch above others in their stream.
Any time you can take the mundane and throw a spin into it that makes people think, smile, laugh, or a combination of the three, you’re sure to be followed and retweeted often. The funny ones employ a Seinfeld-esque style of looking at nothing and making something out of it.
Tweeting Style:
* I’m ____ing (something mundane) while I’m ____ing (something interesting)
* Watching ____ on TV begs the (interesting) question ______?
* Have you ever noticed that ____ would be better with bacon on it?
The Journalist
There are live journalists tweeting their findings to the world. There are citizen journalists breaking the news happening in front of them. There are bloggers posting more than just their posts; they post their thoughts on other issues and websites as well.
The Journalist is the Twitter personality that is getting almost as much attention as the celebrities joining twitter. It is as a collective more than as individuals that they are turning Twitter into the place to find and share what is happening in the world as it’s happening. Hundreds of stories have been written about the Twitter army being on the scene first at major events, tweeting pictures before camera crews at local television stations can find the keys to their van.
Tweeting Style:
Unlike traditional journalism, the rulebook is thrown out the window with Twitter Journalism. Time is everything - breaking news breaks fast on Twitter, opinions can go stale and must be concise, and links fall to obscurity if nobody with a lot of followers tweets or retweets it. Twitter is changing the face of journalism more than any website in history.
The Celeb Who Keeps it Real
Twitter is a doorway through which many celebrities are able to interact with fans, foes, and everyone in between in a direct yet safe manner. Most use it to thank their fans, promote their upcoming shows, and generally establish a constant public relations facade that humanizes them carefully and in a calculated way.
Others just don’t give a damn and they tweet whatever they want to tweet because they like to tweet.
One celebrity in particular does a tremendous job of being himself. Shaquille O’Neal, @the_real_shaq, is about as real as it gets, and thankfully for his fans and followers he’s a very entertaining guy, even when he “keeps it real”.
Tweeting Style:
Instead of singling out other celebrities who tend to use Twitter as a PR/Marketing tool, we’ll take a peek at what makes Shaq real. He pleads with nobody in particular (possibly even himself) “Can I plaese cheat on my diet and got to dairy Queen pls pls pls”. A few minutes later, you see this image linked through a tweet:
Classic Shaq.
The Link Mogul/Retweeter
There are those who enjoy what they find on Twitter more than what they have to say themselves. The Link Mogul/Retweeter uses Twitter as a resource and they’re happy to share what they find with their own followers regardless of where they find it.
They retweet what they find on Twitter and tweet what they find off of Twitter.
In many ways, this personality type includes the people who keep the streams churning. They bring interesting finds to light, whether it’s a link or simply something interesting that someone else has said.
They retweet like crazy, selflessly bringing attention to other people’s content and other users accounts, not because they have ulterior motives or selfish goals but because they find good stuff and they want others to see it as well.
Without these users, many wonderful things on Twitter would never reach more than a few people.
Tweeting Style:
Find links, find interesting tweets that others make, find interesting links that others tweet, and get it out to their portion of the Twittersphere. It’s that easy.
New users who do no longer want to be The Purist often migrate to a variation of this personality.
The Tastemaker
What is happening today? What will be happening tomorrow? What articles should we read? What videos should we watch? Who should we be following? What’s the next big thing?
For better or for worse, there are trendsetters and tastemakers in just about every aspect of Web 2.0. Twitter is no exception, and to accomodate the 140 characters or less aspect, the Tastemakers on Twitter have found 3 major avenues of using their influence to make changes, send traffic, and often even make the news.
Tweeting Style:
* Tweeting links to the coolest, most interesting or entertaining links on the web (hopefully before anyone else does)
* Asking questions of their tremendous following to find out what’s ticking in the world (or at least a microcosm of the world)
* Discuss issues publicly with other powerful users, getting both batch of followers interested in the conversation and subsequently whatever topic they are discussing.
The Everyman’s Friend
The first question that gets asked at least a few times a week of people who are following tens, even hundreds of thousands of people is “how can you possibly keep up with all of those people?”
If asked under truth the influence of Sodium Pentothal, most would simply answer, “I don’t. I can’t. I try, but it’s too much.”
Still, there are a select few who DO try to keep up with their tremendous stream of tweets.
They DO reply to every @reply sent to them, every direct message thrown at them, and still somehow find the time to answer questions and offer help to those who don’t ask them directly.
They read their stream, find interesting points of conversation, and act upon them in some way.
They are Everyman’s friend.
They keep Twitter friendly and help new users get better.
Tweeting Style:
* Lots of @replies
* Lots of responses to questions posed to the community
* Lots of time spent on the site
* LOTS OF TWEETS!
Continue Reading Twitter Personalities 8-14
The Twitter personalities above were positive, important aspects of the community that help to keep the stream moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, with great power comes gre… actually, it should be said that with increased popularity comes those who will do what they can to ruin it.
Below, you will find the users who are, to some degree, not the kind of user that most would want to be. It isn’t that they’re bad people or even bad users. People are allowed to tweet just about any darn way they want to tweet. It’s a free Twitter (for now) and nobody wants to have their Twitter personality type classified as negative.
With that said, we’ll classify the following personality types as ones that are (to be politically correct) “community challenged”. No examples will be given. We aren’t here to call anyone out or to spend too much time talking about the, but they do exist and need to be on this list.
The Spammer
It’s the most unavoidable negative aspect of the Internet. If there are people gathering at any site, spammers will surely follow. An entire post or two could be written about the different types of spammers out there, but if you’re a spammer you know who you are and most users know how to recognize you as well.
The Stalker
Twitter can be a wonderful community that allows people to connect with others that they never would have known existed otherwise. Unfortunately, some users are the types that you wish you never knew existed. More importantly, you wish they never knew you existed.
The Twitter Stalker comes in many forms. They can send @replies and DMs all day, every day, and get upset if you don’t reply to every single one of them.
They can have a name or avatar similar to yours. They can even start requesting to call you on the phone or (gulp!) meet you in person.
Communication is one of the best parts of Twitter, but let’s keep it to Twitter, shall we?
I know I said that I wouldn’t use examples, but this one was too funny to pass up. The user’s name: “Kevin’s Nose”.
The Self-Promoter
Some would classify The Self-Promoter as a spammer, but there is a distinction. The self-promoter normally tries to get involved. They try to be a good friend, say interesting things, retweet others, and other aspects of the good personalities listed before.
The difference is that they don’t really care about any of it. They are simply trying to show that they are good and active on Twitter so they can get their own message out. It could be just the link in their profile. It could be an innocent DM here or there. It might be the occasional tweet mentioning that “If anyone needs help with social media marketing, I’m a guru.”
Many are, and there’s nothing wrong with being a guru and pointing it out to prospective customers. Still, I have to ask, “When did they leave facebook and migrate to Twitter?”
The Blog/Site Bot
This is not a condemnation of Blogs! I love blogs. I don’t mind following blogs. The only problem I have is when blogs install a plugin and don’t configure it right. What ends up happening is that every follow’s stream is clogged with dozens, even hundreds of blog posts as the new plugin posts everything that has ever been written on the blog.
Other sites use a feed and site bot to post every new happening on the site. When a site is updated dozens of times a day, these bots can be exceptionally annoying.
The Clueless
There’s nothing wrong with a new person having no clue how to use the site. We were all there at one point or another. The users that still seem clueless 6 months and 400 updates later - they’re a problem. With so many guides available and so many users willing to lend a helping hand with tips and advice, there’s no reason why anyone should not understand the site after a certain point of usage.
The Real Person Who Tries to be a Celeb
Some may draw parallels to the Self-Promoter, but again, there is a distinction. Having 10k followers does not make someone a celebrity. It may be the most exposure that they get, and they may be able to add and remove new friends as well as the next user, but there is no reason to get high and mighty because a lot of people followed you back.
Humility is a quality. Be thankful that you have the eyes of so many. Don’t gloat or boast about your followers until your name starts getting circulated on more than just a few thousand people’s Twitter stream.
The Troll and the Meta-Twitter Troll
If humans are allowed to post their thoughts, some of those humans will actually be trolls. It’s part of a troll’s nature to flame others regardless of the venue or circumstance. That’s what being a troll is all about.
The Meta-Twitter Troll is a relatively new breed that has hopped onto Twitter because of it’s tremendous growth and the buzz surrounding it and their trolling involves making others feel bad about being on Twitter in the first place. They go beyond ripping on people because of what they Tweet. They flame them because of their very Twitter existence. These are dangerous users capable of driving other users away through shame and intimidation. Block them whenever one enters your stream.
Which Personalities Do You Have?
The vast majority of users do not fall into any one Twitter personality type. Most are a combination of two or three. Users evolve as quickly as the site itself grows. Did we miss any types? Which personality type(s) do you consider yourself?
Tweet ItRemember, you can lead a horse to Twitter but you can’t make him Tweet.
The 14 Types of Twitter Personalities
Tweet ItTwitter. It’s all the rage with news sources, celebrities, politicians, and millions of everyday folks getting in and playing around with it. The premise was simple: in 140 characters or less, answer a simple question that your followers and anyone who visits your page can see: “What are you doing?”
Since its creation, Twitter has both stayed the same and experienced evolutionary changes. The premise hasn’t changed, but what it means to people and how they use it have changed dramatically up until now. While more uses will certainly pop up, for now, everyone can be classified as having one or more of the following Twitter personalities.
These personalities and how we present them to the world define our uses and intentions on the Twittersphere. Whether we know it or not, these snippets of life that we cram into 140 characters say more about us as Tweeple than they say about us as people. For many, the distinction between the two is very thin.
The Purist
The site asks, “What are you doing?” and that’s exactly what The Purist delivers. This is the point where many new users start. Many of them continue indefinitely, following the lines of the original intent of the site to truly microblog every aspect of their life, whether exciting or mundane.
Tweeting Style:
* Good morning Twitter.
* I am doing ____ now
* I am at ___ now
* I _____ed just now
* I’m _____ing right now.
* Good night Twitter.
The Clever Purist
The Clever Purist will answer the question just as stated. The difference between them and The Purist is that they put a spin on their tweets to make their actions more entertaining or interesting than they really are. These users can accumulate a strong following once they are noticed as other users see them as adding value a notch above others in their stream.
Any time you can take the mundane and throw a spin into it that makes people think, smile, laugh, or a combination of the three, you’re sure to be followed and retweeted often. The funny ones employ a Seinfeld-esque style of looking at nothing and making something out of it.
Tweeting Style:
* I’m ____ing (something mundane) while I’m ____ing (something interesting)
* Watching ____ on TV begs the (interesting) question ______?
* Have you ever noticed that ____ would be better with bacon on it?
The Journalist
There are live journalists tweeting their findings to the world. There are citizen journalists breaking the news happening in front of them. There are bloggers posting more than just their posts; they post their thoughts on other issues and websites as well.
The Journalist is the Twitter personality that is getting almost as much attention as the celebrities joining twitter. It is as a collective more than as individuals that they are turning Twitter into the place to find and share what is happening in the world as it’s happening. Hundreds of stories have been written about the Twitter army being on the scene first at major events, tweeting pictures before camera crews at local television stations can find the keys to their van.
Tweeting Style:
Unlike traditional journalism, the rulebook is thrown out the window with Twitter Journalism. Time is everything - breaking news breaks fast on Twitter, opinions can go stale and must be concise, and links fall to obscurity if nobody with a lot of followers tweets or retweets it. Twitter is changing the face of journalism more than any website in history.
The Celeb Who Keeps it Real
Twitter is a doorway through which many celebrities are able to interact with fans, foes, and everyone in between in a direct yet safe manner. Most use it to thank their fans, promote their upcoming shows, and generally establish a constant public relations facade that humanizes them carefully and in a calculated way.
Others just don’t give a damn and they tweet whatever they want to tweet because they like to tweet.
One celebrity in particular does a tremendous job of being himself. Shaquille O’Neal, @the_real_shaq, is about as real as it gets, and thankfully for his fans and followers he’s a very entertaining guy, even when he “keeps it real”.
Tweeting Style:
Instead of singling out other celebrities who tend to use Twitter as a PR/Marketing tool, we’ll take a peek at what makes Shaq real. He pleads with nobody in particular (possibly even himself) “Can I plaese cheat on my diet and got to dairy Queen pls pls pls”. A few minutes later, you see this image linked through a tweet:
Classic Shaq.
The Link Mogul/Retweeter
There are those who enjoy what they find on Twitter more than what they have to say themselves. The Link Mogul/Retweeter uses Twitter as a resource and they’re happy to share what they find with their own followers regardless of where they find it.
They retweet what they find on Twitter and tweet what they find off of Twitter.
In many ways, this personality type includes the people who keep the streams churning. They bring interesting finds to light, whether it’s a link or simply something interesting that someone else has said.
They retweet like crazy, selflessly bringing attention to other people’s content and other users accounts, not because they have ulterior motives or selfish goals but because they find good stuff and they want others to see it as well.
Without these users, many wonderful things on Twitter would never reach more than a few people.
Tweeting Style:
Find links, find interesting tweets that others make, find interesting links that others tweet, and get it out to their portion of the Twittersphere. It’s that easy.
New users who do no longer want to be The Purist often migrate to a variation of this personality.
The Tastemaker
What is happening today? What will be happening tomorrow? What articles should we read? What videos should we watch? Who should we be following? What’s the next big thing?
For better or for worse, there are trendsetters and tastemakers in just about every aspect of Web 2.0. Twitter is no exception, and to accomodate the 140 characters or less aspect, the Tastemakers on Twitter have found 3 major avenues of using their influence to make changes, send traffic, and often even make the news.
Tweeting Style:
* Tweeting links to the coolest, most interesting or entertaining links on the web (hopefully before anyone else does)
* Asking questions of their tremendous following to find out what’s ticking in the world (or at least a microcosm of the world)
* Discuss issues publicly with other powerful users, getting both batch of followers interested in the conversation and subsequently whatever topic they are discussing.
The Everyman’s Friend
The first question that gets asked at least a few times a week of people who are following tens, even hundreds of thousands of people is “how can you possibly keep up with all of those people?”
If asked under truth the influence of Sodium Pentothal, most would simply answer, “I don’t. I can’t. I try, but it’s too much.”
Still, there are a select few who DO try to keep up with their tremendous stream of tweets.
They DO reply to every @reply sent to them, every direct message thrown at them, and still somehow find the time to answer questions and offer help to those who don’t ask them directly.
They read their stream, find interesting points of conversation, and act upon them in some way.
They are Everyman’s friend.
They keep Twitter friendly and help new users get better.
Tweeting Style:
* Lots of @replies
* Lots of responses to questions posed to the community
* Lots of time spent on the site
* LOTS OF TWEETS!
Continue Reading Twitter Personalities 8-14
The Twitter personalities above were positive, important aspects of the community that help to keep the stream moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, with great power comes gre… actually, it should be said that with increased popularity comes those who will do what they can to ruin it.
Below, you will find the users who are, to some degree, not the kind of user that most would want to be. It isn’t that they’re bad people or even bad users. People are allowed to tweet just about any darn way they want to tweet. It’s a free Twitter (for now) and nobody wants to have their Twitter personality type classified as negative.
With that said, we’ll classify the following personality types as ones that are (to be politically correct) “community challenged”. No examples will be given. We aren’t here to call anyone out or to spend too much time talking about the, but they do exist and need to be on this list.
The Spammer
It’s the most unavoidable negative aspect of the Internet. If there are people gathering at any site, spammers will surely follow. An entire post or two could be written about the different types of spammers out there, but if you’re a spammer you know who you are and most users know how to recognize you as well.
The Stalker
Twitter can be a wonderful community that allows people to connect with others that they never would have known existed otherwise. Unfortunately, some users are the types that you wish you never knew existed. More importantly, you wish they never knew you existed.
The Twitter Stalker comes in many forms. They can send @replies and DMs all day, every day, and get upset if you don’t reply to every single one of them.
They can have a name or avatar similar to yours. They can even start requesting to call you on the phone or (gulp!) meet you in person.
Communication is one of the best parts of Twitter, but let’s keep it to Twitter, shall we?
I know I said that I wouldn’t use examples, but this one was too funny to pass up. The user’s name: “Kevin’s Nose”.
The Self-Promoter
Some would classify The Self-Promoter as a spammer, but there is a distinction. The self-promoter normally tries to get involved. They try to be a good friend, say interesting things, retweet others, and other aspects of the good personalities listed before.
The difference is that they don’t really care about any of it. They are simply trying to show that they are good and active on Twitter so they can get their own message out. It could be just the link in their profile. It could be an innocent DM here or there. It might be the occasional tweet mentioning that “If anyone needs help with social media marketing, I’m a guru.”
Many are, and there’s nothing wrong with being a guru and pointing it out to prospective customers. Still, I have to ask, “When did they leave facebook and migrate to Twitter?”
The Blog/Site Bot
This is not a condemnation of Blogs! I love blogs. I don’t mind following blogs. The only problem I have is when blogs install a plugin and don’t configure it right. What ends up happening is that every follow’s stream is clogged with dozens, even hundreds of blog posts as the new plugin posts everything that has ever been written on the blog.
Other sites use a feed and site bot to post every new happening on the site. When a site is updated dozens of times a day, these bots can be exceptionally annoying.
The Clueless
There’s nothing wrong with a new person having no clue how to use the site. We were all there at one point or another. The users that still seem clueless 6 months and 400 updates later - they’re a problem. With so many guides available and so many users willing to lend a helping hand with tips and advice, there’s no reason why anyone should not understand the site after a certain point of usage.
The Real Person Who Tries to be a Celeb
Some may draw parallels to the Self-Promoter, but again, there is a distinction. Having 10k followers does not make someone a celebrity. It may be the most exposure that they get, and they may be able to add and remove new friends as well as the next user, but there is no reason to get high and mighty because a lot of people followed you back.
Humility is a quality. Be thankful that you have the eyes of so many. Don’t gloat or boast about your followers until your name starts getting circulated on more than just a few thousand people’s Twitter stream.
The Troll and the Meta-Twitter Troll
If humans are allowed to post their thoughts, some of those humans will actually be trolls. It’s part of a troll’s nature to flame others regardless of the venue or circumstance. That’s what being a troll is all about.
The Meta-Twitter Troll is a relatively new breed that has hopped onto Twitter because of it’s tremendous growth and the buzz surrounding it and their trolling involves making others feel bad about being on Twitter in the first place. They go beyond ripping on people because of what they Tweet. They flame them because of their very Twitter existence. These are dangerous users capable of driving other users away through shame and intimidation. Block them whenever one enters your stream.
Which Personalities Do You Have?
The vast majority of users do not fall into any one Twitter personality type. Most are a combination of two or three. Users evolve as quickly as the site itself grows. Did we miss any types? Which personality type(s) do you consider yourself?
Tweet ItRemember, you can lead a horse to Twitter but you can’t make him Tweet.