For anybody that knows anything about Matt Drudge, either by his website which can be credited with driving large portions of the American news cycle (believe it or not) or from his former radio show, it might come as more than a surprise that he would consider creating a Twitter account to share his reflections on the world. Announced in the right-hand column of his website on Saturday, in characteristic brevity, Drudge posted: “TWITTER: @_DRUDGE”, linking to his recently created Twitter profile, which was changed on Sunday to @DRUDGE after being verified as the real deal.
The move, nevertheless, is fairly uncharacteristic for the reclusive editor. For all his success on the web, his one page of links often competing in traffic with all the pages of the New York Times website, Drudge has enjoyed painting himself as an anti-establishment figure, long criticizing Internet giants like Google for trying to dominate all aspects of the Internet, and to a lesser extent Facebook for its lax attitude towards privacy. So the embracing of Twitter is an unusual move for the independent-minded, and even cagey personality, who writes in his profile, “PERSONAL VIEWS, OBSERVATIONS HERE...” Perhaps Drudge misses the direct dialogue with his audience that he had when he hosted his radio program on WABC.
In his first tweet, Drudge explained his move in characteristically brief, ironic, and mocking fashion: “ok if howard’s [Howard Stern] finally going for tweets, I better, too. Always hated the name ‘twitter’, so bitter.” And since then he’s posted seven tweets in the last 24 hours. Though a lot of people dislike Drudge for his politics, it’s hard to disagree with the fact that he’s great at what he does, and anyone who’s listened to his radio show knows his insight is unconventional and deeply insightful. The world became a richer, funner place this weekend.
