Tweethearts: blogger proposes to nerd girlfriend over Twitter, she tweets back acceptance.

A nice way to end the week. Congratulations to Boing Boing pals Sean Bonner and Tara Brown. (Some related tales of love and photons in this cute WIRED item.)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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The Snowden Principle

Cpt. Tim

its lame and impersonal to ME.

but if they’re in love, and its how they wanted to do it, then i concede that its cute and adorable.
zuzu

Oh, Sean you romantic devil you! The grandkids are gonna love this incredibly romantic story 40 years from now.

Grandkids will probably be purely software beings like the characters in Greg Egan novels, and I’m sure they’ll totally appreciate this archaic moment of digital romance.
Anonymous

My girlfriend (@aedison) and I (@clapifyoulikeme) met on Twitter, and, as we’re 3300 miles and an ocean apart, have mostly “courted” on Twitter, Skype, Gtalk. It would be utterly appropriate for one of us to propose over Twitter (when the time is, you know, right). Is it any lamer than skywriting, really?
squirrelgirl

^ here’s that article

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
yurei

Seriously folks, Tara Brown and Sean Bonner might actually be…one and the same. Tara’s pic is awfully attractive [thnks n prt t Phtshp], Sn’s pc s wflly drky.
Andrea James

Hope that doesn’t lead to a TXT MSG BREAKUP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcidD2HFK8M
TEKNA2007

Yeah, that’s it. Twitter discussed on the second page. Thanks, SquirrelGirl.
andreiz

#38, you’re an idiot. my friend photo and it is definitely not photoshopped. here is a set that i shot at the same party:

http://flickr.com/photos/zwhiterussian/sets/72157606461608366/
seanbonner

Hey #22, it’s only a 6 hour drive. So there!
A New Challenger

@#31 Squirrel Girl:

Dammit! Why didn’t I? I love that word!

You have shamed me.
Nelson.C

Yurei @38: We feel the time has come to inform you that your life is a lie. The people closest to you are supporting actors, everyone else is the invention of a small but talented group of extras, scriptwriters and cgi artists. You have seen and met Tara and Sean many, many times in many different roles, wearing a variety of clothes, make-up and prostheses. (Check out the staff next time you’re in a coffee shop.) I can assure you that they are, in fact, different people, though their twitter feeds and, indeed, this blog are a fiction, a fabrication of our content generation software. Your world is a lot smaller than it appears to be.

The reason I’m telling you this, is that, well, the show is being axed. It’s not as popular as it once was; frankly, your character isn’t as charismatic as when you were younger, and the plotlines are veering between banality and outright absurdity. But the good news is that we’ve got enough budget to end the series with a bang, for which this present financial crisis is just a taster of what’s to come.

Most of the time it’s been a real pleasure working with you, and we want to assure you that despite everything that’s about to happen, we bear you no personal ill-will, and wish you the best of luck when the series is finally wrapped.
OM

…was that “Bonner” or “Boner”?
zuzu

Nerds! :)
heypal

cool beans. congrats to them. probably the longest 18 minutes of his life.
A New Challenger

Both wrong. It was “Clarence.”
Xeni Jardin

dorks.

DORKS IN LOVE!
A New Challenger

@Xeni:

Or possibly GEEKS IN LOVE.
Tenn

Aw.
Joel Johnson

VEILWHALE
tomic

Why s ths vn ntbl? Wht mks t dffrnt frm prpsng n ml? V lttr? Tlphn? Twttr s clr bcs t’s nwr? s vryn tht shllw nd trvl?
A New Challenger

I must admit, the “w00t!” is the best part.

I’m having fun entertaining a hypothetical scenario where he really meant having a Twitter wedding (like the MMORPG weddings of legend) and is now completely put upon by this extra level of commitment that is suddenly out in the open and perhaps expected of him.
Nelson.C

Tomic @46: Well, duh.
Takuan

this meets Mollusk standards.
mayjah

It could have been worse, there were no ASCII roses in his tweets.

I can only hope that the made-for-TV movie involves a mishap with her losing her connectivity, then her phone, during the 18 minutes and healthy doses of slapstick as she makes all efforts to reply. Hilarity ensues!

PS: Congrats.
Sweeneybird

Sweeneybird @ #42: genius
TEKNA2007

schweet! uh i mean, that’s sweet!
wolfiesma

Can somebody please post something else on BoingBoing today? If this is a test to see how long we can go without something relevant to discuss I have failed. mercy
zuzu

It could have been worse, there were no ASCII roses in his tweets.

@}-,-`-

Twitter is cooler because it’s newer? Is everyone that shallow and trivial?

Yeah, I still don’t “get” Twitter. What does it do that IM doesn’t? …and all IM did was combine email with finger.
wolfiesma

Congratulations to the bride and groom, nonetheless. Talk to me in ten years….. Kidding!
iveexa

If that’s a nerd girlfriend I’m Uthant.
EeyoreX

“The grandkids are gonna love this incredibly romantic story 40 years from now”

I donÂ´t think you have to be an advertising exec to realize that they will actually be telling the grandkids the grand tale about the day when grandpa successfully “BoingBoing-ed” grandma. WE, the multitude of readers, are part of the story.

Declaring your love with the whole world as an audience is an genre of its own these days:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2034068_rent-billboard-propose.html

Twitter is much more out in the open than, say, e-mail, therefore much more romantic.
Johnny Cat

This is so Logan’s Run material. I disapprove.

I am, however, in love with that Geeks In Love short.
Jack

Have we gotten to the point where you can tuck your baby in from the airport? You will. Maybe not from AT&T.
Dan

It took her 18 minutes to answer him?!?

Man… That must’ve been brutal for the poor guy.

Congrats.
xxxxxx

how lame and impersonal.
dimmer

Huh xxxxxx? What’s lame about it? It’s no worse (maybe quite a lot better) than doing the expensive restaurant / whoops I got you up the duff / blind drunk / found a rose at the cemetery proposal.

Also, it’s not impersonal: it’s just a little public. If this is the way these folks live and communicate, more power to them.
Bonnie

YAY! My fave web celeb couple gets hitched! ;-)
zuzu

how lame and impersonal.

and so clearly ready for the routine of marriage. ;)
Jack

I can haz pre-nup plz?
sfazzios

Maybe it’s genuine, but I kinda feel like it went down like this:
Guy: Ha ha, funny joke
Girl: OMG I’m totally taking you seriously
Guy: Oh fuck. It’d be way to douchey to back out now. I’ll just wait until the kids finish college.
joi

â™¥
yurei

@#44 Nelson.C

Will I at least get residuals from the syndicated episodes? I’m counting on those reruns for my early retirement, you know ^_^
Anonymous

Funny. I used to work with Ms. Brown. From what I understand this is more or less in character.
dimmer

Communication is always a personal choice: in person (often difficult to set up), phone (Leave a message after…), eMail (no idea if it got through or not)…

These lovely folks did things in a fashion that works for them, I don’t see any indication that there’s any implied “You should propose THIS WAY!”

Public proposals are very common: over radio shows, ballpark announcements, messages on blimps., so on and so forth.

Congrats to the couple. Live long, prosper, have great sex.
Roach

I’m assuming that they’ll be one of the first to upload their brains in the coming singularity.

But no way to kiss your girl after she accepts your proposal? Laaaaaaaaaaaame indeed.
AahMyEyes

I’m going with XXXXXX on this one, seems lame and impersonal to me too. It definitely is worse and _not_ better than traditional methods. Seeing someone’s reaction in the flesh? There is no comparison. Maybe the guy was too scared to do it in person? I dunno.
tarabrown

For the official record…

Sean lives in LA and I live in SF. We tweet, Skype, IM, and txt each other all the time. I’ve written a bit about this…

http://tarabrown.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/ldr-hope-is-less-distant/

Asking me over Twitter was probably the most adorable, amazing, dorky, hilarious and appropriate move Sean could have made.

As for the in-person smooch, he gets to SF on Tuesday. :)

<3 Tara
Ocker3

Tara, very happy to hear that Sean asked you in a way that (he probably knew) would be well recieved :) I know how long-distance relationships can be a pain and how technology can help you keep in touch. Much love for finding new ways of finding someone to connect with and keeping that connection alive :D

Here’s to you two!
xxxxxx

So instead of making an 8 hour drive, he decides that one of the most important moments of your lives should be relegated to the equivalent of a text message. Oh, Sean you romantic devil you! The grandkids are gonna love this incredibly romantic story 40 years from now.
jpdefillippo

These are two of my closest friends and I couldn’t be happier for them. And knowing those two, especially Sean, it’s quite possibly the most romantic thing I’ve seen in a while. And which one of you naysayers has the stones to ask someone to marry you in public? Thought so. :-P
t3hmadhatter

their gradchildren will probably be doing it by hologram to other human colonies on mars, so i say this is a fine way if they feel so :P
Takuan

look forward to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-i52z42K1k
Nelson.C

Yurei @58: You know those EULAs you never read? Should’ve read them. I’m afraid you gave away rights to residuals a long time ago. But, you know, if they don’t strike the sets right away, you might be able to stay there for a while. The food’s not going to go off right away.
Takuan

whatever happen to tradition of wedding bag? In Khazakstan we not nedding Titter talking.
joi

Yay!
Takuan

actually, here’s the clip I meant,from 2:50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2-a-1TJKxU&feature=related
Eater of beef

To paraphrase Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds:

“Nerds!”
Dan

#20 posted by tarabrown , October 11, 2008 1:01 AM

For the official record…

Asking me over Twitter was probably the most adorable, amazing, dorky, hilarious and appropriate move Sean could have made.

As for the in-person smooch, he gets to SF on Tuesday. :)

Still… Did you have to make him wait 18 minutes?

Were you cooking a pizza or something?

I’m happy for you two.
janellybean

I think they were probably kidding…they have to be…lol
janellybean

hold on a sec…i looked it up and take it back…congrats!
squirrelgirl

the fact that no one has called these two twitterpated yet in 30 replies is a little sad.
Karen M

Awww! That’s sweet – congratulations to Sean and Tara!
LilaSweetheart

Aw that is so cute!!
sabik

Were you cooking a pizza or something?

Listening to Alice’s Restaurant?
Marcel

Next wednesday Twitter:

Sean: That was totally awesome! I had so much fun.

Tara: Did you?

Sean: What? You mean you didn’t?!

Tara: Well….

Sean: Wanna break up?

Tara: Actualy, yes.

Sean: Okay
TEKNA2007

@Zuzu #52:

Yeah, I still don’t “get” Twitter. What does it do that IM doesn’t? …and all IM did was combine email with finger.

There was a pretty cool article recently that gave some good perspective. Tried to find it for you, thought it was NY Times but couldn’t find it, maybe someone else knows. It talked about the result of endless little tweets adding up over time into a kind of intimacy no matter how physically remote are the people involved. The kind of intimacy you might have had with college roommates/housemates when you’re in and out of each other’s business several times a day. Sounds nice.

@Tara #21:

As for the in-person smooch, he gets to SF on Tuesday. :)

Pics or it didn’t happen!

Kidding. Wishing you two the best.