Posted on March 28, 2008
Twitter Finds New Use as Modern Proposal Tool
BY JENNIFER EUBANKS
In an age where an increasingly greater number of people find themselves tethered (either voluntarily or involuntarily) to the internet for a large portion of the day, it makes sense that some individuals would take advantage of the Internet for things that are traditionally done offline.
Many of us observed back in 2006 when a man proposed to his girlfriend by utilizing the time lapse webcam set up in front of the Apple Store that opened in New York City. While public proposals are nothing new, the use of a 3rd party webcam in the middle of the night was a novelty.
With the rise of social media, it seemed inevitable that someone would eventually use one of the many tools to do exactly the same thing. And as it turns out, this is exactly what happened. Last week, the Wired blog reported that a San Francisco web designer proposed to his coworker via Twitter. It was conjectured that this was the first public proposal delivered over Twitter, but the blog was soon updated to report that earlier in the month, on March 2, another couple had already successfully become engaged. This couple lives in different cities and travels often, so the use of Twitter to seal the deal made the most sense to the husband to be.
While people certainly can and will propose any way they choose, is it more or less romantic to have these traditional rites of passage delivered in a very untraditional media? Would you be offended that it didn't happen the way it happened for your parents and grandparents, or would you just be too happy by what it symbolized to care how it happened?
It does take a certain amount of guts to publicly display your proposal, as a negative reply would be that much more devastating when it's visible to the whole world. While this does reflect a certain amount of commitment, and I do love social media, I have to say I think I'd still prefer the old-fashioned way. Though, I guess if you've waited 15 years to hear the question as was the case with the SF woman last week, getting that Tweet may have been the best thing she'd ever read. Perhaps her fiancee was just waiting for the right social media to come along to do the job??
