The Unique Charm of GSP's Twitter Account

There's a certain amount of performance involved in the cultivation of a good social media profile. It might be more pronounced for public figures, but everyone who has a presence online does this to a certain extent. Whether it's about managing your personal brand or just putting on a presentable face for the world, we all make choices about what we want to share with others and how we want to share it. The end result can seem intimate enough, but it rarely allows anyone to get a true feeling for the person behind the account or page. Sometimes, though, the way people craft their public presence and what they do with their social media accounts offers its own unique insight into what makes them tick.

All of this was going through my mind as I scrolled through Georges St-Pierre's Twitter feed yesterday to see if he'd made any recent posts about the new Kickboxer Vengeance trailer. I don't know the former welterweight champ personally, and I'm under no illusions about how much I can learn about him from the things he posts on the Internet. But, as an outside observer, I've become a little fascinated with the evolution of his social media habits since he stepped away from the Octagon in December 2013.

While GSP was still fighting, his Twitter account was, much like the man himself, intensely focused on competition and training. It was what you'd expect from an active mixed martial artist: some video and photos from training, inspirational sports and philosophy quotes, promotion for his fights, and the occasional shill for his various sponsorships.

But things started to change when St-Pierre posted a goofy photo from his vacation after his victorious but less than definitive fight against Johny Hendricks at UFC 167.

Johny and I gave you the Fight of the Night- hope you enjoyed it! Forget all the rumors- on vacation, happy & well!!! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)November 20, 2013

For the first time in ages, fans got to see a glimpse of something other than somber focus and fatigue from the fighter, got to see something other than that look of tired resignation that he wore to the cage on the eve of his last fight.

After he stepped away from his belt and announced his hiatus, he started sharing more of this kind of stuff, documenting a well-deserved physical and mental break from a grind that was clearly taking its toll on him. Although he still occasionally comments on his friends' and colleagues' fights, and made three tweets about the UFC's PED testing in February, he spent more and more time sharing random moments from his life.

He watched UFC 171 with Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Enjoying every minute of life outside the Octagon- had a great time watching UFC 171 with my idol — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)March 17, 2014

Like a good Canadian, he randomly sought out some Wayne Gretzky memorabilia:

Halftime at the NBA AllStar Game and I had to go find the Wayne Gretzky display. Can never get enough hockey! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)February 16, 2015

He posed for a wax figure and brought up Gretzky again:

Getting scanned at — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)January 22, 2014

Also like a good Canadian, he ate some poutine:

Sometimes there's nothing better than a late night poutine lol — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)January 15, 2015

He wrestled an alligator and made a very dad-esque joke about it:

No ground and pound on this guy!! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)March 27, 2015

He got turned away from a nightclub in Berlin and seemed to have some fun with the misadventure:

Tried to check out Berlin nightlife but got rejected at door & stuck in rain. Had flashback of my past lol… — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)May 29, 2014

He didn't get turned away from Drake's OVO Fest in Toronto and had a little too much fun:

Thanks to Angello, — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)August 4, 2015

He met and hung out with a random and intriguing assortment of famous people including childhood hero Hulk Hogan, The Edge from U2, Dave Chappelle, and controversial Canadian Olympian Ben Johnson (an interesting meeting, given GSP's hard stance on PEDs):

Had a great dinner and very interesting discussion with Ben Johnson, one of the fastest men of all time! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)October 3, 2015

Great to meet Vince Vaughn in Manhattan Beach yesterday! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)August 7, 2015

Big thanks to Dave Chappelle and his team for the great show yesterday - Haven't laughed like this in a long time! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)July 21, 2015

Before U2 concert with the Edge. They are awesome guys!!! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)June 13, 2015

This morning I had breakfast with a living legend and one of my childhood idols, Hulk Hogan!!! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)September 13, 2014

This morning in Paris I ran into one of my favorite actors- Owen Wilson! Big fan of Wedding Crashers — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)May 27, 2014

My friend — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)May 20, 2014

He indulged his well-documented interest in dinosaurs every chance he got:

Petite visite au Centre des sciences de Montréal aujourd'hui entre 2 entraînements! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)November 26, 2015

I'm in South Dakota learning about what was probably the greatest battle between 2 animals, 66 million years ago. — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)September 2, 2015

No living land creature of modern days could take down one of these two giants of Patagonia…. — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)March 21, 2015

Spending some time this afternoon learning about Gorgosaurus libratus at McGill's Redpath Museum! — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)January 28, 2015

I passed by the La Brea Tar Pits museum- an amazing site for paleontology fans. — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)June 17, 2014

He shared videos of his training, seemingly equally happy to show off his successes and failures in the gym:

Started the morning landing on the wrong foot trying to perform a cartwheel / single-leg front tuck combo… Lol— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)November 19, 2015

Started the day the hard way with some reaction exercises with my gym trainer Patrick. — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)October 9, 2015

Big training this morning. You can even do this one at the parkSeptember 17, 2015

Still need a lot of work but improving little by little everyday.— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)June 22, 2015

Another fail by me today lol — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre)April 9, 2015

Part of what made GSP such a pleasure to watch was the unique mental focus and perspective he brought to MMA. Much like his hockey hero, Wayne Gretzky, watching him talk about his sport was almost as interesting as watching him master it. So there's a unique pleasure that comes with seeing that level of intense and slightly idiosyncratic focus and philosophy being recharged and refocused in almost real time. And there's a certain charm in observing someone who was so mentally and physically devastating in the cage document his various enthusiasms and misadventures with such guileless wonder.

As GSP gears up for a resolve-testing training camp to help him decide if he ever wants to return to MMA, perhaps the real question isn't whether he should or can return to the sport, but why he'd want to. If you'd accomplished (almost?) everything possible in your calling by your mid-thirties, wouldn't you happily retire and hang out with a bunch of dinosaurs, too?