Mirror mirror on the wall: 7 humbling bragging tweets

In its five-year existence, Twitter has redesigned its homepage a number of times, with each incarnation looking to answer questions new users may have, such as, “Why should I use Twitter?” The new slogan, “follow your interests”, does just that. However, there is a market Twitter isn’t capturing with this slogan: The narcissists.

Yes, Twitter may be a great platform to meet, follow and get “instant updates from your friends, industry experts, favourite celebrities”, as the rest of its slogan goes. However, there’s another element to the site.

As is often said, but not too often admitted to by social media evangelists, Narcissus would have fitted right in on Twitter and other social networks.

For the most part, as Amanda Lambe, a digital-marketer tweeted, “most social media vehicles are an outlet for latent (or not so latent) narcissism”.

And if there’s something interesting or laughable happening on Twitter, be sure that various Twitter accounts or websites will document it.

Enter Twitter account @humblebrag. A “humble brag” is defined as “a form of self promotion where the promoter thinks he is, almost subliminally, bragging about himself in the context of a humble statement or complaint” on UrbanDictionary.com.

Then there is also Tweeting Too Hard, which as the site explains, is where “self-important tweets get the recognition they deserve”.

Here is a selection of some of the most blatant, egregious and amazing examples of these kinds of tweets…

Firstly, a tweet by the CFO of multinational cosmetics company Mary-Kay, who probably didn’t mean to come off so self-possessed, but nonetheless did.

Because just as you may have forgotten, she is in Cannes.

Not even the famed “accidental live-tweeter” of Osama Bin Laden’s death can escape the collective raised eyebrow at this humble brag.

It’s one thing to appear in USA Today, which of course isn’t the New York Times, but to claim you haven’t read it…

Why did Apple have to be so successful?

In that case, who are we to ask questions?

Just in case you didn’t realise he’d met the actor before.

And if you were thinking about giving anyone advice, think again…