How this dad became HK’s go-to “Twitter update guy”
Aaron Busch is a dad, a former journalist, and Hong Kong’s trusted “Twitter update guy.” (Screenshot from @tripperhead’s Twitter profile).
A stay-at-home dad has unexpectedly become one of Hong Kong’s go-to sources for timely and reliable COVID-19 information on Twitter.
Aaron Busch, a dad of two from Western Australia and a Hong Kong expatriate for eight years, started writing down the number of cases from China in January of 2020. Two months later, he moved from an excel sheet to his Twitter, @tripperhead, then at 300 followers.
As of writing, Busch has 25,098 followers—more than accounts of local public health experts and officials. He continues to regularly update followers on the pandemic in Hong Kong. He live-tweets government briefings, summarizes data and insights from experts, and tracks ever-changing travel rules in and out of the city.
Alternative solutions to mainstream problems
A quick Google search on Busch reveals a background in broadcast journalism, which explains his expertise in Twitter-based reportage.
His main selling point? He translates the news—99% of which are in Chinese—to English, especially for expats like him. In Hong Kong, they make up roughly 10% of the city’s population of 7.5-million.
A crackdown on local media and the shadow of Hong Kong’s draconian Security Law have recently made state press releases a go-to source of information. Busch, who monitors the news 14 hours a day, updates netizens much faster than the government can.
This is crucial at a time Hong Kong is facing the world’s deadliest surge yet. Arguably, a growing distrust in the government has paved the way for the alternative, vaguely anti-establishment solutions to common problems, as seen with Busch’s bedroom journalism and the use of traditional Chinese medicine.
Not all heroes wear capes—or scrubs
In an era where anyone with a medical degree and Twitter account are hailed rock stars among men, “medfluencers” get their clout from followers who seek relevant and credible COVID-19 information online. What @tripperhead, much like my favorite medfluencers, brings to the table is a reliable stream of news and laughs amid misinformation and out-of-touch communication.
But perhaps beyond this is the powerful notion that ordinary, sitcom and floral shirt-loving citizens can help others in the pandemic too. Like Busch, anyone can win people’s trust given the perfect cocktail of dedication and relatability we so crave from our public figures.
In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Busch called Twitter a “cesspool of horrid.” Despite this sentiment, he is currently on his 760th day and 398th press conference coverage. With China not looking like it’ll steer from “dynamic zero” anytime soon, he’s “basically gonna keep doing it every day until it doesn’t need to be done.”
