I want to change my bio on Twitter (follow: @phillipjspencer), but I just don’t have the balls to do it. Currently it reads, “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve – J. K. Rowling,” a quote from a Harry Potter book, and one that I hold dearly because it gives me hope that I may possibly achieve something someday. But then I was thinking how a quote, while important, does not stand out or grab a potential follower’s attention (which may be the reason I only have fifty-seven followers). I once read a bio of a Twitter page of a friend of a friend that read “I’m an eighty-year-old woman in a twenty-something-year-old body” and I just thought it was hilarious. Why can’t I do that?
While in this process of trying to create a new, fantastic bio, I finally thought up “All you have to do is sit back and be amazed.” I was impressed and inclined to make the big change, but then I started to think about how it may actually be received by audience members. While I thought it was intriguing and witty, it could potentially come across as conceited or arrogant. I intended it with humor, in an almost sarcastic way. In a way, the bio was meant as an indicator that my subsequent tweets would be both hilarious and serious (which they are, in my opinion).
However, I did have the fortune of taking a positive psychology class last semester and found that people who are more optimistic in life (and in their writing) tend to be more well liked and more successful. Since taking that class, I’ve realized how cynical and negative I tend to be – like complaining to acquaintances about school instead of championing a common interest. So remembering this got me thinking, is my new bio snarky/sarcastic? Would that win over potential followers? In a reading for a class I’m taking this semester, I learned that it’s better to be gracious and humble so that people will respect you more and relate to you better. Again, am I doing this in my new bio?
The answer would honestly be “no,” because while the new bio would represent my wonderful humorous side, it also does hold that deeper, darker passive aggressive side that would deter people, I fear. So it would appear that the hunt is once again on to create a fantastic new bio. In the mean time, I could always test out this new bio and see if my fears are actually right. If they are, then a change is always just a click away.
