There are two things in life that I avoid like the plague: organized sports and technology. I can't handle the anxiety of sports — I do not understand how people religiously follow a sports team without having a heart attack from the stress of it all. As far as technology/the Internet goes, I am always the last person to get on the techie ball; I didn't get a Facebook.com account until a few weeks before college, I didn't get a digital camera until junior year of high school, and my family only recently purchased a DVD player.
But with that−thing−happening−on−May−23−that−I−don't−want−to−talk−about looming in the not so distant future, I've decided to turn a new leaf, start embracing change and conquer my ridiculous and completely unfounded fears. I'm attending my first professional sports game ever on Friday — hopefully I will not melt into a ball of nerves in the stands — and I have decided to finally join the 21st century and get a Twitter.com account.
OK, so I don't actually have an account yet, but it's going to happen. I recently started a blog for the first time ever, which was a huge step in overcoming my technology fears, and the Twitter will come in due time. And I am fully aware that, in the words of the Black Eyed Peas, I'm "so 2000 and late," but I'm trying.
The main reason I am going to join Twitter is so I can immerse myself in our culinary culture via constant tweets from food writers, restaurants, chefs, bloggers, you name it. Food has taken over Twitter, and it's about time that I jump on the bandwagon.
Twitter has become the go−to news source for all things food — Paula Deen, for example, has over 110,000 followers, and Jamie Oliver has approximately 403,000. Celebrity chefs, food writers and bloggers use Twitter in traditional ways, posting their whereabouts, linking to their published articles or alerting people to new blog posts. A lot of foodies use Twitter as a platform to talk about their daily food activities, like tweeting about a meal they cooked, bragging about a restaurant they went to, sharing recipes or giving a shout−out to their favorite grocer or specialty store. Food publications use Twitter to break news and spread their latest articles to their thousands of followers — Food & Wine magazine, for example, is just shy of 37,000 followers.
But the mother of all food Twitters is Whole Foods, with just over 1,755,000 followers. The store uses its "fresh organic tweets" as a way to advertise in−store promotions, get recommendations and answer questions from customers. Its Twitter is both the ultimate branding tool and the perfect platform for customer service.
Foodies are also bridging the traditional Twitter gap, using the social networking tool in very interesting ways. The Seattle Times published an article on April 6 about small, local restaurants that use Twitter to connect to their clientele. One of the most interesting restaurants featured in the article is Tidbit Bistro, which has over 12,000 followers on Twitter. Its chefs tweet early in the morning about the fresh ingredients they have received, and ask their patrons for suggestions on how to use them for their daily specials board. With just 140 characters, the chefs are able to offer a more personal dining experience — and get some free advertisement for their dinner specials. In a similar vein, a March 19 Reuters article highlighted food vendors in New York City who use Twitter to alert their patrons of their whereabouts each day.
In the end, I have to decide between holding onto my irrational fears and embracing techie, foodie culture. If millions of other foodies can do it, I can too.
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Caryn Horowitz is a senior majoring in history. She can be reached at Caryn.Horowitz@tufts.edu.
