It's no secret that I am a big fan of Felicia Day. Her impact on the internet world through Knights of the Guild and then other projects (no, I'm sorry. Her impact on the world. PERIOD) has directly influenced the future of television and the web-based viewing a large number of us enjoy. I have often said "Felicia Day is my hero," and that statement is always true.
It's also no secret that I am a huge fan of Twitter. I have either met or enriched my relationship with many (maybe all) of my closest friends through this medium. It has also allowed me to engaged in a community of individuals around the world, all connected through our common interests and internet activity. I'm not so much talking about the overall twitter community, but the many different realms in which I interact that are based on the various podcasts I either listen to or am involved in. And I'm NOT talking as one of those people who lives alone and has no human contact beyond their computer (though Windows and I would probably have a lot of things in common). I have a life outside of my computer, but Twitter has significatly enriched my life through contact with other people who are into the same things that I am (ie Buffy, Smallville, knitting, etc).
Yesterday Felicia Day wrote a blog post about a Vanity Fair article in which she was featured along with several other women who are entreprenuers and very successful. What connects them all? They are very successful Twitter users. Sounds like an awesome study of how New Media is emerging and maybe even how it is becoming the chosen vehicle of intellectual, ambitious women.
(I mean, look at that picture. How awesome?)
Unfortunately, the author took this opportunity to marginalize these "Tweethearts" (seriously? Could you be more condecending?) She frequently refers to them as "girls" and uses all sorts of supposed Twitter slang that is viewed as juvenial by actual users. Her treatment of these women as unimportant individuals who are unable to achieve success without engaging in an online popularity contest is offbase and very offensive. It is very hard to understand why this woman is trying so hard to put down other successful women unless she herself views the world as one giant popularity contest and must put down others' success to make herself sound more intellectual. Honestly, it totally had that highschool vibe.
Ok, I'm not going to rant anymore. Geekweek has an excellent response if you would like to learn more. All I have left to say is, Vanessa Grigoriadis, you have just declared war on informed women everywhere. And we are a formidale opponent.
Posts
I totally agree with you. I read Felicia's blog post yesterday and I found the quotes from the Vanity Fair article to be very offensive and condescending. It's bad enough that Grigoriadis is still living in 2006 and doesn't understand that these women who understand and use Twitter and social media to promote their businesses are smarter than she is, but she takes it a step further and portrays them as dumb, airheaded cheerleaders with iPhone addictions. People who stick to this kind of old-fashioned thinking will be left in the dust in the months and years ahead as new media really explodes even further than it already has and is. Then the Felicia Days of the world will be laughing.
ReplyDeleteI will confess that I don't put much stock in Vanity Fair, but had to check the article out to see for myself. Not only was the article poorly done, but you are correct in everything you said. I couldn't believe the "lingo" the author of the article used, especially since I type out every word I say on my twitter. I like you thought this article might have some promise, but I too ended up offended. The word "Tweetheart" makes me want to vomit. The sad thing is that I am not that easy to offend, and yet it happened.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a classic case of the person writing the article not truly knowing what is going on, or really digging deep, I am not sure if this par the course for this author but either way I have a bad taste left in my mouth, and do agree with Frank's post.
As another note.. I always tended to think of the internet as the introvert's playground more son than anyone else, but that is only my opinion