The 7 Types of Tweeters

If you aren't on twitter by now, theres a good chance you shouldn't be. Its quickly become a simple means of mass communication and I'm amazed that there are still people who haven't figured out how to use it. Then there are the people like me that tweet often. We've figured out a way to do everything from sell sneakers, to watch streams of DirectTV games online for free. Its all in who you follow and follows you back.

The communication is unique in the sense that there are styles of tweets much like dialect and slang are in languages. I've found that there are generally 7 types of tweeters. 6 of which are in my timeline.

Type 1 - "The Lame"
This type of person usually has a low follower count because they are boring. They generally update twitter with tweets like "Doing laundry" "Eating breakfast" "Headed to work" "Watching the game" - Even if they were a celeb, people would stop following them. I don't follow these people.

Type 2 - "The Re-Tweeter"
This person usually communicates by Re-tweeting what someone has sent them followed by a statement that they are making so their followers can see what was said to them. ex -

@KingJaffeTopher Whats good with you bro? - (Nothing much mane, chilling)

Sometimes this gets annoying - Especially if nobody is saying anything worth seeing.

Type 3 - "The Troll"
This type of person is usually saying off the wall stuff to get a rise out of anybody. Tweets usually consist of general nonsense and inferior people or products being better than their competition. ex -

I can hear my parents having sex in the next room FML
Kerry Collins >>> Peyton Manning
I'm about to sniff cocaine for the first time.

Yeah...okay buddy

Type 4 - "The Trendy Tweeter"
This person usually comes to life when an interesting trend starts on twitter and they go in.... Matter of fact, most of the times they go in for too long. You're cool and all but two days on the same trending topic is OD.

Type 5 - "The Social yet Non-Social Tweeter"
You know them. You either get none of their tweets or all of their tweets. They usually have conversations on twitter with one person all day. If you're using third party apps like myself, you don't see this if they are conversing with a person you're not following. If you're following both of them, its like being in a room with 10 people who are all talking as a group except the 2 that are talking to each other.

Type 6 - "The Wisdom Giver"
Rev Run is the most famous, but regular people do this too. Every tweet has some sort of "wisdom" in it.... Everybody isn't good at this as tweets that read "What goes up, must come down" isn't really wisdom.
[Sidebar] Why isn't Rev. Run following ONE person?

Type 7 - "The Acronym and Secret Society Tweeter"
I'm guilty of this. This type of tweeter usually posts stuff that makes sense to a large number of their followers who understand the lingo. ex -

#NT LOL @ that #YNS TT we got going.
8o 8o yall see those pics :hat :hat
:eek at that Moss catch
Headache FTL-Oxycontin FTW!!!!
Lets start a PYP on twitter
:{@ you FOH with that nonsense (-__-)(No thats not a frowny face)

There are a lot more out there including those that are a super-combo of the aforementioned types. Please tweet responsibly. LOL!

Cheap Fun or Dirty Advertising?

Alcohol abuse is a serious problem amongst underage drinkers. We've all seen the stories of alcohol poisoning killing college students. Freshmen away from home for the first semester and even high school students play dangerous drinking games and risk their lives for the thrill of appearing cool.


I've seen numerous Captain Morgan commercials during programming while thinking, "Wow. Some teenager is seeing this and thinking its cool to drink." Most teenagers are slightly naive and eager to please/try anything once. With the increase of alcohol related advertising on television, this is definitely something that is contributing to it.

A study found that, among a group of 2,250 middle-school students in Los Angeles, those who viewed more television programs containing alcohol commercials while in the seventh grade were more likely in the eighth grade to drink beer, wine/liquor, or to drink three or more drinks on at least one occasion during the month prior to the follow-up survey.

I think one local liquor/beer/cigarette store has crossed the line. While spending a weekend afternoon relaxing, I overheard a young child(5-7 years old) repeating a catch phrase from a Dirt Cheap Liquor store commercial. The phrase is "Cheap, cheap, fun, fun." That bothered me deeply but not the fact that the child remembered the phrase, but because I think I know why. Anyone that is familiar with this franchise knows that they have a chick for a mascot. Kids see this mascot and get interested in the commercial because it is now appealing to them. I call foul play but I wonder am I over-analyzing this situation. I have a clip of the advertisement and I'll let you be the judge:



Why is this mascot used when the point is to sell liquor to adults? I understand that alcohol prevention starts within the home. Parents should educate their chidren on the dangers of alcohol but in my opinion, this is crossing the line. Ultimately, I don't make the decisions, but if I did, this company would have some explaining to do.

Whose Got The Fever?

".....and when he get on, he leave your ass for a white girl"

Or Armenian, Hispanic, Asian or any ethnic background other than Black. Why is there a percentage of Black men who exclusively date outside of their race? What causes a Black man to distance himself from a Black woman if he was born of one? When did it become the "in-thing" to do?

There are many possible answers to those questions. Black men in America have been under fire by our female counterparts a lot more recently. Athletes, entertainers, and public figures that publicly appear with other ethnicities draped on their arms are merely setting themselves up to be ridiculed.

"Oh no he didn't come in here with her...He could have found a sister to marry...Why don't I ever see him with a Black woman?"

While the numbers of interracial marriages have increased over the years, interracial relationships in America are nothing new. They are more visual now than ever. Digital media has made the world smaller. 30 years ago, a red carpet event was covered by a few news outlets, SLR cameras, and the local newspaper reporters with their tape recorders. Now there are live feeds on major cable networks, Twitter, Facebook, and personal bloggers just to scratch the surface. If you are a brother interested in a White woman, you can no longer hide under the cloak of technological blunders. There is a camera on you and your choice of women at all times. Black women will know your past, as it relates to who you have been seen with.

You have the brother that just refuses to date the Black woman. We all know this guy. He would rather date the White woman that appears to be "trashy" and may be deemed physically unattractive by most, than to date a decent looking Black woman. He wont even look in the general direction of a sister. What causes him to be this way? A friend of mine I grew up with could be considered "that brother." He was attracted to Black women. They weren't necessarily attracted to him though and let him know it. I understand why he doesn't hold them in a certain place in his heart. While this may not be the reason for every brother that refuses, it was most certainly a very big contributing factor in what he found to be "his type." A lot of who you become, are from major and minor experiences in your youth. Good and bad.

When you think about world cultures, there are several that have beliefs with strict written regulations on religion and race. You are required to be with your own. If not, you risk persecution from your people or excommunication from a religious sect. We as Americans often frown upon this practice and then practice these principles with our unwritten regulations.

I personally have dated outside my race on more than a few occasions and can truly say that I felt fine doing so, but I wasn't always as open to the notion. In high-school, a very beautiful Asian girl approached me every day for a week to let me know she was interested...and what did I do? Brush it off. I was young(stupid) and a totally different person then. Now I'm the type of person that thinks it doesn't matter as long as you find someone you can enjoy in a relationship. The battle is just finding someone who loves you for you. I don't think you should close yourself off to a certain race but lets be honest....people do it all the time. Is it wrong? Questionable....but there are White women who refuse to date White men, just as there are Black women who refuse to date Black men.

We as Black men aren't in an uproar about Black women being involved in interracial dating. We don't say to ourselves or to friends, I wish she was dating a brother. Halle Berry, the object of a very high percentage of Black men fantasies, had a baby by a White man...there is no uproar about their relationship. In fact, she had a song named after her! Let Denzel Washington get a divorce and re-marry to someone like Scarlett Johansson - Black women will be burning his DVD's in the streets from L.A. to Brooklyn. There is a double-standard present that most Black women will not admit to. They wish he wasn't with the White girl, but they don't want to see him with the Asian girl either.

What does race ultimately mean now? By 2050, America is projected to become a country where minorities will make up the majority. Barack Obama is considered a Black man but he is the child of an interracial relationship. I'm very proud of my ethnic background and will raise my children with a deep understanding of Black history as it relates to social awareness, but we are looming closer to a nation where class could start to separate people more. We must understand as a people, love conquers all.