Why talk about your relationship status on TwitterIJ Well it's easy, in vogue and provides limited fodder to gossip mongers, says D Kaushik
One hundred and forty characters is what it takes to end relationships these days! We are sure you won’t doubt that. The list of people who in the last few days have declared their break ups on Twitter is proof enough for that. From Hrithik Roshan, Kushal Tandon, Armaan Kohli to Karan Singh Grover and Pooja Bhatt recently, Twitter seems to be the ideal platform to announce the end of relationships.
The trend seemed to have stemmed from Hollywood, where most celebrities announced most things (good or bad) on a social networking site and gave rest to unnecessary rumours spread by the paparazzi. Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough, Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, Kelsey and Camille Grammer and Seal and Heidi Klum are some couples who declared their break ups online.
Apparently Seal’s was the shortest tweet announcing the break up with Klum. His tweet read “The end” and those were the code words that led to the breaking of the big news. In Bollywood, it was someone who was least expected to come up with an info on his private life on a social networking site, leading the trend —Hrithik Roshan. The actor announced his split from Sussanne Khan and shared that “Sussanne has decided to separate from me and end our 17-year-old relationship.
This is a very trying time for the entire family and I request the media and the people to grant us our privacy at this time.” Then examples followed and all that fans and media had to do to find the reality of a celebrated couple’s relationship was to keep a track of their Twitter updates.
Announcing the break up news on Twitter surely has advantages. The first is that when a person does that on a public platform it is like putting up a brave face in the times of turmoil and that surely calls for sympathy from the outside world. Announcing a break up on Twitter is also a way of saying that “it’s my life and you are not invited.”
Once you come up with the reality on a social networking site, you make it clear that you will not entertain any intrusion in your private life. Sample this. There was a lot being reported on Jennifer Winget and Karan Singh Grover’s relationship and many said that the latter’s growing proximity with his co-star Bipasha Basu is the reason. Then came a tweet from Grover clarifying all and thereafter the rumours have been almost nil.
Whether it is a phenomenon or something in vogue, announcing break ups on Twitter is an example of our growing affinity for the virtual world, where reality is just a gimmick!