@AaronEndre: I'm mad at you!

Earlier today I stumbled across Tweeple Magazine, which is essentially the People Magazine of Twitter.  But because there aren’t as many celebrities on Twitter, it’s got less content.  Anyway, I digress.

So in a cheeky tweet I said:

“Do I actually have to be important to get into http://www.tweeplemagazine.com? I guess not: @carsonjdaly is on the front page. “

Almost immediately I received this from Carson Daly:

carsonjdaly: “@AaronEndre Aaron, its really funny how you take a shot at me, and youre the 22 yr old male tweeting to justin timberlake all day. way 2 go!”

I felt bad and yet kind of victorious.  Bad because I actually like Carson Daly and he was offended, but victorious because I had made a celebrity come down to my level to chide me for an innocuous dig.  And not only did he take it sourly, he sent a few jabs my way as well.  And for the record, he’s referring to ONE Justin Timberlake tweet, inquiring about a possible new album.

So I immediately responded with:

“@carsonjdaly It wasn’t a shot at you. There’s nothing but love & respect here. It was a shot at “Tweeple Magazine” for even existing.” and “@carsonjdaly But I’m sort of surprised that you responded–and with a jab at that!”

Thinking that I had successfully cleared up our differences at the expense of Tweeple Magazine, I was immediately tweeted at by the Founder of Tweeple Magazine (and Tweepular, among others):

“@AaronEndre I own tweeplemagazine along with Tweepular & other tools. Can you point me to something you have created I’d like to take a peek”

So now I was back on the defensive because I’d thrown Tweeple Magazine under the bus.  Perhaps surprisingly, I’m not one of the people obsessed with celebrity gossip.  I just think it’s silly.  But I know that lots of people love it.  So I had to communicate that in my next tweet:

“@jasontryfon Just not something that I find value in right now. I’m sure there are lots of people who love it! Best of luck! “

His response was so succinct that I couldn’t tell if it was sarcastic or not:

“@AaronEndre right. Thank you.”

If there’s a lesson in all this, it’s this: be careful what you tweet, seemingly joking or not, particularly if it’s directed at someone with whom you have no relationship because it can be taken the wrong way and put you on the defensive.  It’s common sense but we sometimes need a reminder–or at least I do, even if it comes from Mr. TRL himself.

And for the record, I actually DO like Carson Daly (I hope one day to take him out for a drink and laugh about this) and I admire the work that Jason Tryfon put into Tweeple Magazine and his other ventures (I’d take him out for a drink too!).  I wish them both the best of luck and I hope they’re laughing about this as much as I am.

UPDATE: May 12, 2009

Since this was posted I’ve heard back from both Jason Tryfon of Tweeple Magazine and Carson Daly.  Tryfon re-tweeted this blog entry and then graciously offered to feature me in Tweeple Magazine one of these days (via his comment below).  Cheers to him for being a good sport.  I’ll be keeping an eye on the evolution of Tweeple Magazine and hope you do the same.  And if you’re not familiar with Tweepular check it out!

Carson Daly read this blog entry and tweeted this at me:

carsonjdaly: @Aaronendre WOW! we will have a drink and laugh at this 4 sure. you just made a cynical comment at the wrong time. i was defensive. ALL GOOD

To which I responded late last night:

AaronEndre: @carsonjdaly @jasontryfon Wow, they really are good sports. Cheers to Carson Daly and Tweeple Magazine. This round is on me.

This morning I was greeted with:

carsonjdaly:@AaronEndre morning bro..cheers!

A happy ending after all.