subtweet guy

Image via Corey Kindberg/Twitter

This dude is publicly posting everyone’s savage subtweets

What to do when your heart is telling you to send out the snarky subtweet but your brain knows it is a bad idea.

 

David Britton

Internet Culture

Posted on Jun 8, 2017   Updated on May 23, 2021, 3:52 am CDT

Ahhh the delicate art of the subtweet. How to complain about a co-worker, friend, or some other human, without them finding out. It’s a tricky situation at best.

If you don’t know, subtweet is short for subliminal tweet, meaning you’re talking smack about someone without actually using their Twitter handle or even mentioning their name. It’s basically the Internet equivalent of talking behind someone’s back. Like instead of tweeting:

Hey @saltygravy, why were you such a dick at my party last night?

You might tweet:

You know what good people don’t do? Show up at a pot luck with half a box of pop tarts and then drink all the beer.

Or you might, for instance, tweet.

I’m sick and tired of the sexist smug white dude running the United States government.

And people would know exactly who you meant without you having to mention Vladimir Putin.

Of course, it can all go wrong. Like when Taylor Swift famously thought this Nicki Minaj tweet was aimed at her and Minaj claimed it wasn’t.

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623616796277506048

Obviously, there’s another danger to subtweeting. Sure it might feel good to blow off steam about your annoying roommate or boss, but what if it gets back to them? That’s where Corey Kindberg comes in. He’s a New York social media editor and had a little time on his hands to do people’s dirty work.

Boy were people happy to take him up on the offer, with tweets that ranged from petty, to savage, to everything in between.

https://twitter.com/coreykindberg/status/871908747010027520

It’s important to note that not all subtweets have to be negative. Sometimes it’s just something you’re afraid to say to the person’s face.

Other times you’re just a conflicted weirdo who watches too much SpongeBob.

Kindberg’s inbox is still flooded with messages, so we can probably count on a neverending stream of snarky complaints and wicked burns. As for the man himself, he says he’s learned at least one thing.

Oh and that viral fame comes with a price.

H/T BuzzFeed

Share this article
*First Published: Jun 8, 2017, 7:17 am CDT