Top 5 Dudes on Twitter Who Need a Hug

by Chris Hall on July 7, 2009 · Comments

Man Hug
Image by HotsauceJane via Flickr

Have you ever seen a dude’s updates on Twitter and thought to yourself, I really wish that either I or somebody else I know could hug that guy? I find myself feeling that way more often then not. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we all hugged one another more? I think so. So rather then suppress these inner feelings any longer, I figured that I would be the first to bite the bullet and write a post about hugging dudes on Twitter.

The next time you run across one of these guys in real life, go ahead and give them a hug for me, would ya?

Number 5 – @jasonfalls

I started my man hugging with Jason. He was my first, and will always be in my top five. I’ve seen him speak professionally, I’ve broken bread with him, and we’ve hung out at odd hours of the evening… and bar none he is one of the coolest guys that I’ve ever met on the internets. I’ve made it a tradition to hug Jason as a personal man greeting from here on out and I highly recommend that you do the same.

Jason is awesome, and that’s all I have to say about that.

Number 4 – @armano

I have yet to meet David Armano, but he is responsible for starting my journey into the land of hugging men. I owe him a great deal of gratitude. For it is a little known fact that after I began hugging guys, I was able to smooth over relations with IT at work via one well timed man hug. True story. And now we’re getting our own development team to make cool web 2.0 API mash-ups that everyone is going to talk about some day in the not so distant future.

Thank you, David. I will be sure to hug you when I meet you.

Number 3 – @arrington

As if it wasn’t obvious from my post on the CrunchPad earlier this week. I think that what Michael Arrington is doing is really cool. I’m a fan of TechCrunch and am a big fan of him taking a ridiculously popular blog’s user base and creating a product with them and for them. That is what I call awesome.

If we ever cross paths, Michael Arrington, I will give you a hug.

Number 2 – @scobleizer

I just wanted to clear the air and make sure that nobody thought there were any hard feelings between me and Robert Scoble, at least on my end, as a result of the post I wrote saying that he is wrong about real time search. I really like what he has done and is doing and I enjoy reading his blog. Sometimes people disagree on things… and that’s ok.

When I met Robert back in January I gave him a high five, but from here on out its strictly man hugs.

Number 1 – @quantumphonic

On a somber note, I had my first negative response on the Twitter today and apparently “ruffled a few feathers.” I brought it upon myself by retweeting a buddy of mine, @chrisbergman, asked what I felt was a thought provoking question regarding Michael Jackson and Chuck Norris. I am unable to reach out to @quantumphonic on twitter as he has held true to his word and blocked me, which he has every right to do.

I guess if you said that this experience was the impetus for my post here, you wouldn’t be far from the truth. I know that everyone isn’t going to agree with me or the things that I say and do, but I still wanted to extend a gesture of brotherhood to a man who was obviously in mourning today.

With that, you have my list of the top five dudes on Twitter who I would like to hug.

  • Chris Hall
    That's an excellent question, Meg, if that is your real name... You see, I want to live in a world where I can high five AND man hug depending on:
    - the situation
    - the company
    - my mood
    - the stock market
    and
    - carne asada burritos
    I want to live in a world where I can hug a dude on Monday and give that same guy a high five on the following Friday. And I refuse to think that's too much to ask. This revolution will be televised on YouTube and other various video sharing networks.
  • I want to be into man-hugs. They just make me uncomfortable. Can't we just go back to high-fives? PS, my mother always liked my brother better than me.
  • Chris Hall
    I think that context is one of the downfalls of everybody connected to everybody, but with a little patience and understanding we can all work through it. I had no idea where @quantumphonic was coming from until I logged into another twitter account of mine, peeped his tweet stream and noticed that he had been live tweeting the funeral all day...

    To your point about the guys who really need a hug, I totally agree. What I love about the man hug is the overcoming self doubt aspect of it. I faced it when I co-brought high-five Friday to the Innovation Center but that was an easier sell because high fiving is cool. People are just unsure about touching other people. Man hugging is not as generally accepted as the high five so I've got my work cut out for me. :)

    Will defo give you a solid man hug next time you're in the 'ville. ;)
  • YFNSM (Brian)
    I saw your post on Twitter and first reaction was, "whoa, that is going to piss some people off" because people's connections with celebrities is very strong, especially with someone like MJ who has touched so many people's lives. Now, because I know you, I know you weren't trying to be insensitive or piss people off. I think it just may be bad timing for the question.
    As far as hugs go, the man hug has definitely become more popular and think that many more men need them. The guys that I've seen that need hugs are not necessarily the ones doing creative/positive things, it's the ones who are out on the internets screaming for support. There is a guy I am friends with on FB from high school. He was kind of strange, but a nice guy regardless. He has probably put a post almost everyday for the last several months talking about the divorce he is going through, hating life and work and blah, blah. It is very depressing, but I feel like he is just reaching out and looking for someone to say, "it's going to be okay, let me give you a big hug, [big man hug] now pick yourself up by your bootstraps and go out there and move on and do great things." So while every guy needs a man hug now and then, I think guys like these really need them. Sometimes it is more meaningful getting a man hug, because they aren't given out as frequently or freely. They tend to be a little more meaningful, because of the age old stigma of men not expressing feelings.

    So, virtual hug for you my friend, and next time I see you, I'll be expecting the man hug, in addition to the bro handshake;-) Awesome post.
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