The Crosbie experiment review | Lying to Tell the Truth

The Crosbie experiment

You know those ideas you get when you’re in bed and can’t fall asleep, normally I forget them by morning. This time I didn’t.

Originally I sent this message out to 12 friends:

Crazy idea, sharing my twitter w/ couple peeps. Have fun, do what you like just don’t change the PW: f0od&po153ning

I didn’t really know what to expect nor did I have any real reason for doing it. I was following my own advice: Action over planning. I knew there were some questions I wanted to pose and some problems I wanted to create but with so much control going to the participants I became more of an observer. The first experiment degraded within an hour to the point that I shut it down and let the cat out of the bag. I wasn’t as brave as I thought.

The next day, undeterred, I started the second wave. I sent out this message to 12 friends (which over the course of the week became 57):

0ri6ina1#^2 <– Access to my account.
#1 don’t change the PW.
#2 keep it fun and clean.. :)

I added one rule, and that seemed to save the day.

Thoughts

I’d love your thoughts on the project. I’ll flesh out this post over time but feel free to drop your thoughts here or link to this post if you want to blog about your experience with #thecrosbieexperiment

http://iamchanelle.com iamchanelle

it inspired a lengthy discussion between the huzband and i about art and perception – and the difference between the two [or lack thereof].

any project that inspires thought is a good thing in my book.

[yes, the first wave of the experiment was disturbing to say the least. however, i felt it was a brave and crazy thing to do. and thankful for the rule you later applied.] :)

http://intensedebate.com/profiles/tysoncrosbie tysoncrosbie

It is funny because I tend to believe people are good. And for the most part they are, but when you play games you need rules to define the limits. I'm happy to have learned this through the experiment. :)

http://twitter.com/tdavidson @tdavidson

Did you ever see @zefrank's experiment where he took over 2 people's Facebook accounts and tried to be them for a week? They gave him some info, then gave him their account details, and he tried to act like them, to see what it felt like, etc. I'd be curious to see how your experience compares with his, on the opposite sides of the experiment…

http://intensedebate.com/profiles/tysoncrosbie tysoncrosbie

I did see that by Ze Frank. I even tried to participate. I also invited him to participate in this experiment because I know how much he likes to play in the online world.

I'm still hashing out some of my thoughts about what happened and what it all meant to me. I'll be adding those thoughts here soon.

http://www.mechanicalspirit.com/ Brandon Franklin

Well, I didn't find it nearly as disturbing/offensive/whatever as apparently some people did. I also didn't find it all that particularly insightful or anything. :) It was an amusing distraction, and a fun experiment. That's how I see it.

It certainly offered me a lot more Twitter-based amusement than when any kind of sporting event comes on TV. Mother of pearl.

I don't think it's something that would be especially worth doing more than once, but I can't fault you for trying it, and better you than me in this case. :)

http://intensedebate.com/profiles/tysoncrosbie tysoncrosbie

It was about having fun. So much of what I see happening on Twitter is a lot of the same old things we used to say Twitter broke down. Authenticity, transparency and accountability have all seemed to disappear with the adoption of the main stream. But a lot of that happened like boiling a frog, no one seems to have noticed. In many ways this is one of the things I liked highlighting in the experiment.

http://www.mechanicalspirit.com Brandon Franklin

Well, I didn't find it nearly as disturbing/offensive/whatever as apparently some people did. I also didn't find it all that particularly insightful or anything. :) It was an amusing distraction, and a fun experiment. That's how I see it.

It certainly offered me a lot more Twitter-based amusement than when any kind of sporting event comes on TV. Mother of pearl.

I don't think it's something that would be especially worth doing more than once, but I can't fault you for trying it, and better you than me in this case. :)

http://www.gauchedesign.com/ Stephanie Horn

I had a good time being involved as one of many @tysoncrosbie personalities. I found, though, that at moments I was tweeting things I normally wouldn't, without regard. Nothing too crazy, just a couple random things here and there that I might have censored to a greater extent had I not been sheltered by the veil of anonymity. I hold the belief that anonymity itself almost has a personality, it's spontaneous, unabashedly honest, and generally more witty than the populace.
http://www.gauchedesign.com Stephanie Horn

I had a good time being involved as one of many @tysoncrosbie personalities. I found, though, that at moments I was tweeting things I normally wouldn't, without regard. Nothing too crazy, just a couple random things here and there that I might have censored to a greater extent had I not been sheltered by the veil of anonymity. I hold the belief that anonymity itself almost has a personality, it's spontaneous, unabashedly honest, and generally more witty than the populace.
http://paulpowered.com/ Paul M

My experience was a little different. I am not quite sure why but it was. Initially I was intrigued by the experiment and would follow what people had to say. I had even made a comment about how the experiment was being perceived in the community. I remember thinking to myself how Tyson must really trust those people.

… then I got an email with a password and an invite… and I froze.

At first, what I thought would be fun, turned into respect for someone I respect. I went almost an entire day deciding what to post and when I did, I tried to make it sound like something he'd say. With great power comes great responsibility and I don't remember the last time that someone gave me the keys to their personality.

Thanks for the experiment Tyson. I am sure you will learn just as much, if not more, from the responses/ reactions of those that participated.
http://paulpowered.com Paul M

My experience was a little different. I am not quite sure why but it was. Initially I was intrigued by the experiment and would follow what people had to say. I had even made a comment about how the experiment was being perceived in the community. I remember thinking to myself how Tyson must really trust those people.

… then I got an email with a password and an invite… and I froze.

At first, what I thought would be fun, turned into respect for someone I respect. I went almost an entire day deciding what to post and when I did, I tried to make it sound like something he'd say. With great power comes great responsibility and I don't remember the last time that someone gave me the keys to their personality.

Thanks for the experiment Tyson. I am sure you will learn just as much, if not more, from the responses/ reactions of those that participated.