Over the past year Twitter has grown more popular than ever. Users get one hundred and forty characters to describe a feeling, emotion, thought, picture, or video. There are many interesting and intriguing stories that surface this social media site every day. With all of these striking events, you would think that your timeline would be filled with diverse thoughts. When I was looking over my timeline over the past couple of weeks, I found a strong theme surfacing: tweets about food. A large majority of people tweet about food for many different reasons.
This leads to me to many questions involving food tweets. Do we tweet what we eat or just what we are craving at the moment? Do we tweet about food to try and relieve some sort of guilt we are holding in? Or do we tweet for humor purposes? From my research, I have discovered that food is on our mind almost constantly.
Tehniat Aftab, of Spider Magazine, discusses how nowadays you see people tweeting or Instagraming their meals quite often. Some people are very excited about their food and want to share it with the world, while others post it out of habit now (Aftab). I collected many tweets that included pictures of people’s meals that were linked to Instagram. They added little captions like “Jeff’s birthday dinner at Carmines,” and a “21st birthday celebration.” This showed me that special occasions call for tweets about what they are doing at the moment with a picture of the meal as well. If people don’t see a picture, it’s like they weren’t there at all. Pictures of these meals are evidence.
Another question that arises is if people want to show off their cooking or baking skills or are just documenting recipes they want to try (Aftab). Molly Kissinger retweeted a picture and link to garlic Parmesan Edamame from user “FoodPorn.” When asked later why Kissinger tweeted this she explained that it looked delicious and wanted to try to make it herself. Lauren Dougan reported that 21% of the people who are tweeting are on the lookout for recipes (Dougan). Whether it be an adventurous decision to make buffalo chicken dip for the first time or a new food discovery of tuna fish on a soft pretzel, people are tweeting their experiences and want to document their success or lack of.
The most common tweets about food in my data collection dealt with cravings. “I want IHOP so bad.” “I just want to eat buffalo chicken dip.” “I want Chipotle right now. Not want….NEED.” I think I speak for many others when I say that I follow through with a lot of my cravings. The list of craving tweets could go on and on. Lauren Dougan reported that 32% of people actually tweet while they are eating (Dougan). This could be why we are seeing so many people tweet about these food cravings. They are eating something while they are craving something else. They could also be finally indulging in their current craving and feel the need to share with the world.
Most of the data that I collected dealt with cravings of foods that were not necessarily good for you. Just a few weeks ago I tweeted, “Cutting out fast food. Trying to get healthy. Let’s see how long this lasts.” The following day I tweeted, “I will eat all da calories today.” Unfortunately, my healthy streak lasted all of a couple of hours. My first tweet might have been motivation to share with the world my new goal, but I also didn’t lie when I delved into a four-course meal.
People also post tweets and add a food location so everyone knows where they are eating their delicious or not so great meal. Followers see these tweets and are now aware what places they should try or stay away from. Aftab points out that this is a great sense of advertising to future customers. Tweeting or posting about food is also another way for a restaurant or fast-food joint to promote new foods or specials. Businesses can receive feedback and can make improvements from there (Aftab). A friend who tweeted that the smell of WAWA cheese steaks can be compared to cat food might not be the best advertisement. The company can see this tweet and try to improve on their food and the aroma that comes with their cheese steaks.
Whatever the reason may be, whether to gather recipe or food ideas, to share a craving, or show off your meal, tweeting about food is a trend that I don’t think will disappear anytime soon, if ever. Tweeting about food is not something to be ashamed of, and most Twitter users are guilty of doing so. The fact is, a large majority of people are tweeting about food, and often! They might be craving food, eating food, or even just thinking about food. Either way they think it, eat it, and tweet it.
Works Cited
Aftab, Tehniat. "Food and Social Media: Reaping The Benefits!." Spider Magazine. 14 Mar 2013: n. page. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://dawn.com/2013/03/14/food-and-social-media-reaping-the-benefits/>.
Dugan, Lauren. "32 Percent Of People Tweet While They Eat." Mediabistro. 02 Mar 2012: n. page. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/32-percent-of-people-tweet-while- they-eat-report_b19124>.
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