How many of us have done something stupid that we wish we had not done and that we deeply regret? I sure have, and I know a lot of other people who have made some bad mistakes many times over throughout their lives.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (@RepWeiner) did a stupid thing then lied about it, then confessed to the world what he did and how it happened. Twitter should thank Mr. Weiner because his mistake will forever become a teaching moment on how not to use their service.
Many famous and not so famous people have also done some stupid things in the misuse of their Twitter accounts but not till now has someone gone on public display in front of an international audience to tell their story of how it was done. Rep Weiner didn’t just say he Tweeted his now famous picture to the wrong person, which many have done. Mr. Weiner admitted that he mistakenly used the “@” symbol instead of the “D” for direct message.
For those of us who do know the difference between an “@” and a DM message on Twitter, this is a moot point but for the millions upon billions who didn’t know what they were you can be rest assured they definitely know now. Unless you were fortunate enough to work for Twitter or happened to be one of the early adopters of using the Twitter service know one really knew how to correctly send a Tweet. Yes, many books on the subject came out to explain the difference but before Rep Weiner not many would admit they themselves didn’t have a clue. I would even go as far as to wager that before this unfortunate incident many didn’t even know there was a way to send a private direct message to someone on Twitter.
Yes, Rep. Weiner did a stupid thing in using such a public form of communication like Twitter to send something so private. And Yes, this mistake could very well cost him his political career and yes his wife may never forgive him for putting her through such an embarrassing ordeal. I for one hope he stays in public office and I do hope both his wife and family can weather this storm and come out of it with a an even stronger resolve.
What I also hope will happen is that Rep. Weiner will embrace this teaching moment and become a spokesperson as to how not to use public social media services like Twitter to send pictures of your privates…;-)
Take a look at the video below and judge for yourself.