No Tweet Harvard Chris

Wouldn’t you figure a 2008 Harvard grad would be all over Twitter?

That’s not the case with Chris, an outgoing, articulate acquaintance I met on my way to the Left Coast.

Harvard Chris was a popular figure on campus, involved in many activities. He entered the workforce last year after earning dual undergrad degrees in Economics and Government. He was recruited by a large international hedge fund. “That’s unusual,” he said with a slight smile. “They usually don’t hire undergrads.”

Harvard Chris is single, has a girlfriend and lives in the Boston area. His career is taking off at a most interesting economic moment-in-time. I asked what he did for the hedge fund and learned he “researches the investment vision” of his boss.

This research is taking him all over the world. The day we met, he was flying to L.A. before heading out to Sydney where he would work in his company’s office for six weeks. Then it was onto London for a six week stint. Then another six weeks at the San Diego office. Then back home, to a hopefully patient girlfriend still in tow.

But Harvard Chris – 22 years old – isn’t into Twitter. That really surprised me, particularly because he’s a social media aficionado.

He was a MySpacer back in high school and then jumped on the Facebook bandwagon in college. Harvard Chris has over 2,000 Facebook friends and uses it regularly. He loves YouTube. Since joining the workforce, he’s become a fan of Linked-In. “It’s the most popular business-centered social network. It’s worth my time.”

So what about Twitter? After discussing the peculiarities of this current social media darling, Harvard Chris said he doesn’t feel the need to tell people what he’s doing all the time. “I don’t need it,” explaining that he isn’t personally enriched by Twitter’s real-time in-the-moment communications.

So instead of telling followers that he’s eating a Boar’s Head turkey sandwich which cost him $10 on an American flight heading to Los Angeles (all within the 140 character limit), Harvard Chris is concentrating on racking up frequent flyer miles.

Go figure.