Translating SXSW Tweets
If you’re just newly aware of SXSW and are now reading Twitter and thinking that everyone’s having a great, interesting time, well, you should know: Everyone’s speaking in code. They’re saying one thing but they really mean another. Let’s break it down.
They Say: ”Psyched for the [Vague Internet Topic] panel featuring @FriendOrCoworker’sName.”
They Mean: ”Going to go watch people I know from my hometown talk to other people I know from my hometown about some vague kind of thing so we can all say we did something down here.”They Say: ”Worst part of #SXSW? Standing out in the sun/rain.”
They Mean: ”I just waited in a line for three hours so I could tweet about the weather.”They Say: ”Ugh, crowd at the @SomeCoolInternetProperty party is crazy/random. Thank god for beer.”
They Mean: ”While I don’t really want you to know that I’m standing alone at this party getting drunk and fiddling on my phone, I really want you to know that I’m at this party at all, so I’m tweeting.”They Say: ”[Brief, wacky anecdote]” followed by “Only at #SXSW” or something similar.
They Mean: ”This is my first time here but I want it to seem like I’m an old pro.”The Say: ”[Quote from @RespectedPerson’s keynote speech]”
They Mean: ”I want you to think I’m smart and interested in things but really I’m so bored that I’m tweeting rather than listening.”
bahahaha. Overly sarcastic but lightened by the fact that it’s the truth and that it’s twitter.
