While tinkering with some Javascript last night, I extracted the avatar images of everybody I follow from Twitter and posted it online. All good.
What I had not anticipated is the traffic pattern that would arise as a result - or rather, who would get clicked on. Perhaps I’m naiive. Perhaps stereotypes exist for a reason… perhaps human behaviour really is as predictable as everybody says. Whatever; it’s pretty dispiriting to share this with you.
Of the 120 people I follow, the most clicked links overnight (by quite some distance) were as follows;
All female, and all pretty. How shallow is the world getting? I was quite taken aback at first - I never really think too much about how people look. Each person I follow on twitter is generally for a reason - so I thought I might share the back-story for each of the above;
Antidamen
I’ve known Antidamen online for quite a while - she’s a great photographer (who has recently had her photos published), and writes a great LiveJournal blog about life in Norway, her family, crafts, and her daily struggles. Her writing is disarmingly candid, and often brutally honest. She only joined Twitter recently.
Ann Stark
I discovered Ann Stark while searching Twitter for people working in design, webdesign, or writing. She posts a never ending stream of really entertaining, interesting, or bizarre stuff - I often find myself clicking her links during coffee breaks, and sharing them with colleagues and friends.
Natali Del Conte
I’m pretty sure that I discovered Natali either through the TWiT podcast, or Buzz Out Loud. She’s always interesting, and knows a lot of the founders of sites such as Digg and Twitter, which gives her more insight than most when commenting on breaking news. She’s funny too.
Sarcomical
I’ve been reading Sarcomical’s blog (sarcomical.com) for years. She’s a photographer, blogger, and all round great person. Her blog is wonderfully written, open, and often full of quirky humor.
In order to bring balance to the force, I’m guessing I should highlight some of the guys I follow on twitter soon - although how I might go about choosing them will be difficult - the list of women above was pretty much dictated by the clicking habits of the unwashed masses…
I still can’t believe that “the crowd” behaved in such a predictable manner…