Angry Amy: Twitter as the New Post-it Note

It sure has been awhile since I've done an Angry Amy episode - not because I haven't been angry (believe me, if I see one more Jon & Kate photo I just might have to write a very strongly-worded letter) - but because it's all a bit anger-inducing these days. But last week I found something that was particularly ridiculous and made me do a giant eye roll as soon as I saw it. So here we go...

You know what makes me angry?!!

Paula Abdul! I realize that she's had a lot of frustrations in working on American Idol with having to put up with Simon Cowell's ego and being the only female judge (except for that one obnoxious first-year judge that no one outside of the music industry has ever heard of), but in her announcement of her departure from American Idol, she could not have harbored more resentment. And how did she decide to tell the world that she was leaving? Via Twitter!!!

Maybe it's just me, but announcing that you are leaving a job where your show-boating douchebag coworker is making almost quadruple your salary via Twitter is like leaving a giant passive-aggressive post-it note for the world. Paula knows that the press are probably following her Twitter feed, but still, avoiding the direct contact is just kind of sad and bitter. By notifying the public over your social networking site -- especially one that limits your characters to 140 (like, say, the amount you could fit on a post-it) -- you are essentially putting up a note and just hoping that someone will read it and ask you so you can talk about it. Yeah, that's passive aggressive. (BTW, if you haven't seen this site and you enjoy passive-aggressive notes, you much click here).

I have a hard time believing that the "straight up now tell me" girl can't at least get her publicist to send a press release. Or she should take her issue to TMZ. There's nothing they won't cover! Not only are Twitter announcements passive-aggressive, they are passive-aggressive in a totally pretentious, narcissistic, "I wonder who is the most obsessed with me" way. This fishing for signs of affection just rubs me the wrong way. Twitter definitely has its place, and call me old-fashioned, but this is not it.

To play devil's advocate, though, I'm not being entirely fair to Paula Abdul. Many, many people do not understand what Twitter should actually be used for.

This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on Wednesday, August 12, 2009. You can leave your response.