She doesn’t seem upset, but I also don’t want her to think I’m an idiot whose Twitter always gets hacked. So for now, my SpamTweet (again, no one’s voting! Give me some feedback, people! ) addiction has been squelched, hopefully for the better. It will be interesting to see if I’m nearly as cool when I’m not spamming people.

This professor did recommend a book to us in class the other day, titled The Spam Book. Being the nerd I am, I became fascinated with the effect that TwitSpam/SpamTweet (again, please comment) was having on my life, so knew I had to have it. The authors reinforce my belief that spam and viruses have been stigmatized by society, and that, dangerous as these entities may be, their existence isn’t as black and white as “a ‘bad’ code threatening to destroy a ‘good’ system” (41… get the book and read along!). I think a good number of my classmates – classmates I would not have befriended were it not for my involuntary spamming, I might add – are also beginning to view viral systems through this lens, and removing the societal & semantic negativity surrounding the terms. This isn’t to say that spam is good, however. Rather, the question is what factors in the online communication lead to its existence.

As a tribute to this newfound intellectualism on the topic of spam, I have changed my blog’s theme to something more Hitchcockian, a nod to the outdated and exaggerated plot of ‘bad bird code’ threatening the ‘good human system’. The blog itself has been rechristened “Spam: The Online Anomaly”. “On the Road to Greatness” did sound pretty corny, after all. I’ve also stopped capitalizing the word “spam,” as I see the lower case ‘s’ as necessary to successfully embracing it into our vocabulary not as a monstrous, capitalized virus or threat (like Ebola or Taliban), but as a welcome, everyman member of American lexicon. Like jimmy stewart. Lastly, my tags are straying away from my college freshman experience and more into this world that I have engulfed myself in. Still, I hope you all keep reading!

Words of wisdom, criminal!

Yes, I am a devout Python fan. But hear me out, for this entry’s title is appropriate!

So I have good news and bad news. I’ll start with the latter. One of my more tech-savvy classmates confirmed my suspicions with the latest involuntary message sent out:

Creepy, ¿no?

Of course, I didn’t send out a picture; this was yet another message. I decided to leave it up as a sort of social experiment, to see how my Twit family would react. I suppose one of them was finally fed up with my shenanigans, or thought it in his and everyone else’s best interests to call me out:

Others were not as incriminating, albeit more blunt.

Still, I don’t see the harm in letting the Spam coexist with my own authored Tweets. Surely others will see it as a nuisance, and rightfully so. I, however, see the benefit, as relationships forged through the Spam have given me a certain mystique that previously did not exist.

Without the original Tweets, I might not have befriended such cute classmates. Turns out that weight loss, hilarious jokes, and funny pictures will get anyone’s attention. And even if the ruse is discovered and the spam unearthed, people seem to be more understanding than I originally thought.

Why can't everyone be this understanding?

Needless to say, the impact of Spam – specifically Twitspam, in my case – has had a greater impact on my college life than I would have ever anticipated. Email almost acts in a closed circuit board, where your actions and mistakes are private. But on a vessel such as Twitter, where everything is ripe for public consumption, everyone can know when someone is vulnerable to SpamTweets (TwitSpam or SpamTweet, which do you guys like more? Comment below!). So users see it as a kink in the system that anyone can fall prey to. Some, such as LatteWithLewis, deem me as ignorant, while others such as ghpinc and rachel_brownlow, acknowledge it without (at least to my knowledge) positive or negative bias. In my case, I have embraced Twitspam to the fullest. One could even argue that I am exploiting it for social benefit. And to think, all this in just a couple of weeks!

In other important news, I have changed my major to something called Emerging Media & Communication, AKA EMAC. I have learned that the program deals with several digital topics, among them Spam. Needless to say, I think it’s a perfect fit

I tried clicking on the link to see what would happen, but it was a dead link. The next day in class, a few of my classmates asked me what the joke was that I had sent. I was kind of off guard, but wanted to make a good impression, so thought up something halfway decent on the spot. A few of the girls were pretty cute, after all.

The next couple of days even more random ones appeared:

This kind of pissed me off. I have never used weight loss products in my life; I keep myself in prime physical condition through exercise and decent genetics. But, lo and behold, a couple of more people asked me about it in class. Not just hefty guys, either. So in a way, this unintentional Tweeting is helping me make new friends. Could it be a virus? I suppose, but I don’t really have an inkling on how to get rid of it. And it’s helping me overcome my social awkwardness in the ‘real world,’ which isn’t really a bad thing at all. Guess we’ll just wait and see how this plays out, and if the non-me Tweets will eventually stop. Stay tuned.

Well, I am now about a week into classes, and they’re going ok… as for making new friends, it’s only been seven days. Classes are keeping me busy, so I figured the best course of action would be to take to the web. I went ahead and created a twitter account, thinking it would be a quick and easy way to keep up with people. So far, this has been the case. A few of my classmates and I have started following each other on twitter. One of them is even hooking me up with some job opportunities!

Fingers crossed!

The link he sent me doesn’t open anything up, so I’ll have to let him know and get the correct one. Who knew that you could advance your career on Twitter? I think I’m already liking it as my main form of digital communication… my inbox is so crammed with garbage that it’ll take forever to clean out. When will companies learn that I have enough replica watches in my drawer, enough supplements in the pantry? So for now, Twitter’s the tool of choice.

Till next time!

Oh the wonderful things that college does!

To be honest I wasn’t much liked in high school; people would take advantage

of my friendliness and my so-called gullibility. In fact, my nickname was “stump”, based, named after The Giving Tree. Not that I mind, it’s a great book. But hey, the good people in this world outnumber the bad, am I right?

Anyway, I hope to update this blog pretty regularly with the trials and tribulations of everyday college life. Feel free to follow me, and give input on any situation I may have. I’m pretty much a worn out novel at a used book store; bend my pages, highlight… whatever the feedback, I can take it.

Thanks for your time and I’ll keep you guys posted!