Thursday 24 March 2011

Twitter blah blah blah.

I realise I am a complete cliche for starting a blog within a year of joining Twitter but who gives a fuck, you don't have to read it. I've had a shitty couple of months and Twitter has been at the heart of it all. Both my nemesis and my saviour, if you will.

I used to have a different ID and was merrily going along gathering followers, swearing profusely and generally getting to grips with having to use astrisks to get my point across where mere words would not suffice. Then someone wrote to my employer to alert them to my Twitter use during working hours. Well you might say, fair enough, I shouldn't be tweeting in a personal capacity during working hours. You'd be right. I hold my hands up to it - nevermind that I don't know a single person who doesn't tweet, facebook, email, text when they should be entering a formula into a spreadsheet, writing a strategy document, developing a marketing campaign or whatever it is they do to earn a living. Anyway I got a slap on the wrists, a kick up the arse and I've learnt my lesson.

What frightened me was this. The Person who contacted my work sent copies of the letter and pages of my tweets to every member of the senior management board. They did this anonymously and left no contact address. They had clearly spent many, many hours, if not days monitoring my output on Twitter specifically pulling out the tweets they thought would do me the most damage. They had even gone so far as to highlight some with a Sharpie. You won't be surprised to hear that I know who is behind it and why they did it. Suffice to say, I don't believe I deserved it. My only crimes were to not be who The Person wanted me to be and to stand up for my principles. Hell hath no fury like a....no I can't say it.

I deleted my old Twitter account as soon as the shit hit the fan and then a couple of weeks later, rejoined as @bear_faced_lady. Word had got about that I'd returned under a new guise and it was quite something to be welcomed back and *hugged* and *kissed* and generally made to feel like a long lost friend returning from the trenches. At first I locked my account, frightened that The Person would start 'twitter-stalking' me again, but then I thought fuck it. If they're that sad that they have nothing better to do than sit in front of a screen feverishly monitoring the endless drivel I spout then frankly, they're welcome to.

I really like being on Twitter and I get something from it that I don't get elsewhere. I get to be coarse and crude or I can shout or cry and generally be the emotional blunderbus I don't get to be in real life (sorry, IRL). It was horrible to think that some one would take advantage of that bond of trust implicit in any kind of social network - virtual or physical. Maybe I have been too trusting and a bit naive in opening myself up as I have on the social web. Maybe, knowing the sort of person The Person is, I should have seen this coming and been a bit more canny. Probably, yes. But the thing is, I have friends on Twitter as well as followers, some started off as followers and became friends, some I've met and some I never will, but friends nonetheless. Friends the likes of which The Person never was and never could be, to me or anyone else.

So I think that really, at the end of the day even though it's a fight I never sought, in the battle between The Person and The Bear Faced Lady, I WIN.

14 comments:

  1. What a horrible experience. If you're naive then maybe so am I. It's dreadful to think that someone could be so bitter as to engage in this kind of nasty and malicious backstabbing.

    Good luck to you for not crumbling under the pressure and for continuing to engage in social media.

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  2. A) The Person is a cow, no insult meant to cows.

    B) Am I being naïve in thinking that there's nothing wrong with tweeting (within reason of course) whilst at work? You talk to co-workers about non-work related stuff don't you? What's the difference?

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  3. Thank you, both. A

    Angelfruit, I did consider leaving Twitter completely, but then that would be like letting them win.

    Mvelase, I was tweeting more than I ought to have been to be fair. Re: talking to co-workers etc, I think the difference is that on twitter it's recorded so can be used as 'evidence'.

    Thanks again for commenting x

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  4. Goodness! I hope it's someone at work and I hope your bosses know who it is because revealing yoursef to be so jealous, petty, vindictive and cowardly really is an own goal and they will have marked her* card accordingly.

    *I have a feeling it's a she, I can't imagine a guy being so spiteful- am I wrong?


    On the plus side (s)he must be really really jealous of you. Go you!

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  5. Hi Becca, it wasn't a work colleague actually. Might have been easier if it had been.

    I've deliberately kept the post gender-neutral and non-specific so I can't confirm or deny your suspicions I'm afraid!

    Thanks for reading and commenting. x

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  6. The Person obviously has a personal vendetta against you. I hope you never cross paths again and I also hope The Person gets a life. Enjoy Twitter, Bear Faced Lady!

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  7. Thanks! I think they do, I hope I don't, I hope they do and I fully intend to!

    Cheers x

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  8. Welcome to the blogosphere, BFL. Nice one. Can't think of much more to say right now but I've probably said most of it to you already anyway, either in person or via Twitter.
    Hugs and so on.

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  9. Unbelievable! How jealous they must be of you! You were lucky not to be fired, I'm guessing you hadn't been too rude about your company. It's always tricky balancing your 'real' persona versus your Twitter one. I was very open with my name at first but I've removed it now. I don't want my workmates reading my tweets! Restricts the swearing too!

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  10. Hi BarkyMag, as it goes I didn't use my real name or name my employer but The Person used their own personal knowledge of me to link these with my Twitter ID.

    It is a balance though, which is why I now have different twitter accounts for different things - Bear_faced_lady is purely personal. Confusing, but neccessary! Cheers, x

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  11. Even better! The universe will have marked their card with a great big karmic 'X' :)

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  12. To coin a phrase, "don't let the bastards grind you down". Kick them in the nuts instead.

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  13. More postings from the angry bear, please!

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  14. Oh my god, how awful! What a thoroughly nasty, spiteful thing to do to someone. Hope the Person gets what's coming to them sometime. *massive hugs*

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