Social Studies: Tweeting before teething | CITY LINK - Free Music ...

Posted on March 14, 2011

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by Julia Allison

The tweeter's age: 16 days. Profile description: "7.3 lbs. 21 inches. My name is Charlotte." Hometown: West Bloomfield, Mich. Welcome @BabyBalanon, who at last count had 160 followers on Chirrup, due in no tiny part to the infant's giant significance of humor.

"I wonder where my poo goes when I'm in here," @BabyBalanon tweeted Jan. 20, when Charlotte was still in utero. "Early a show called Real Babies of Oakland County. Oh no you di-int!" the tab tweeted the following day.

You can very nearly hear the running internal dialogue, like a 2011 version of Bruce Willis' narration in Look Who's Talking. In fact, on Oct. 26, @BabyBalanon tweeted: "My internal voice sounds like Bruce Willis." This was made even more amusing by the fact that just five days before, "baby Bruce" had claimed, "I'm going to be a girl come March! My pet show is already The Notebook."

"I didn't want to be converted into one of those public who often tweets in this area their kids (in this case, my unborn child)," Henry Balanon, an iPhone developer and dad of @BabyBalanon, clarified to me in an e-mail shortly before the child's March 1 birth.

His solution? A separate Chirrup tab — from the baby's perspective. "That way, we can inject a bit of humor into it even as still maintenance our acquaintances and family up to date on everything," he says.

Oct. 24: "Still in the mommy-pod. On the edge and dreaming. I wonder if this is how Neo felt pre-escape in The Matrix."

Dec. 31: "My goal is to be born next year. And to walk and talk at once." And to surf the Internet, obviously.

Even as mommy bloggers are so 2005, dads have be converted into the newest Twitterati. It's the perfect solution for a father who wants to initiation bonding with his unborn child the same way he will with it arrives: in 140-reputation outbursts.

Tim Bograkos, a self-described "alumni-engagement samurai" at Michigan State University, does the chirping for his unborn baby's tab, @BabyBograkos. "I plot on quick my social-media addiction down to my kid," he says.

"In the past, public have done letters to their unborn child," he adds. "And to me, this is the new form of that."

The social-media savoir-faire of these youngest tweeters won't stop when they're born, even if. Balanon plans to set up a Facebook tab for his children and probably a Tumblr blog. Plus, he says, "I have Balanon.com, so she can have a subdomain and e-mail address if she behaves."

Bograkos is on the same page. "My baby will have all the social media that I have — Chirrup, Facebook, blog," he says. "Kids are being born into a shared world, and social media and technology will play a huge role throughout their educations and lives. Why not initiation them early?"

Of course, the genetic code of celebrities' family includes Chirrup from the moment of conception. Lance Armstrong set up an tab for his youngest, @CincoArmstrong, when she was barely a zygote. Modest "Cinco" (location: "on a name's lap") has nearly 4,300 followers. Early in April 2010, she simplified us on her development from the womb:

April 20: "I got 2 arms, 2 legs, a nickname, and I'm 2 inches long. See ya'll in October."

April 25: "I'm now the size of a lemon."

May 4: "Now the size of an apple … and nobody knows if I'm a girl or boy! haha!"

Oct 17: "I'm 'bout equipped to get outta here!"

And finally, Oct 18: "Well, I made it out! What's experience? Sleeping."

You can bet when a name uses social media in a new manner, some public will get upset. "It's lame. Babies and animals don't type," wrote @JordanParkinson, raising the inquiry: Would Charlotte the spider have tweeted from her web?

"Most public reckon it's pun," Bograkos says. "Everyone laughs when they grasp they're having a conversation with an unborn baby."

Balanon adds: "I'm glad there are public who reckon it's ridiculous. Since it is. It's predestined to be. I've heard things where public say that you take the authenticity out of the social network by misrepresenting a name else's identity. To them I say, '@BabyBalanon says relax.' "

Balanon plans to show his daughter her tweets from the womb when she's ancient enough to read them, in suspense she'll gain insight into her first months of life and appreciate her father's humor. "I might even turn over the tab to her," he says. "If Chirrup is still nearly, of course."

"I reckon babies must use social media more," he adds. "It will lead to world peace."

Julia Allison is a experienced person columnist, TV personality, public speaker and former Wired take in girl. Contact her at Socialstudiescolumn@gmail.com and follow her on Chirrup at @SocialStudies and @JuliaAllison.

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