As tink! was continuing to perplex and befuddle the vast majority of the New Kids on the Block fan base, the word in and of itself still eluded many us. As the mystery remained clouded, Jordan Knight,
the pied piper himself played an online version of 20 questions. Tens
of thousands of followers continued to submit guesses which were
returned with simple "yes" or "no" responses. And just as this post was
being written… Jordan Knight revealed his meaning of tink!
However, based on the research of one very shrewd private
investigator. I think her investigation in this case came closer to
demystifying tink! than Jordan’s blinking eyes!
the imaginary sound of eyeballs springing open!
So where do we start? Well, as all good detectives are prone to do, it important to go back to the source… or in criminology terms…"the actual scene of the crime." As all of you who have been following this case know, tink! was originally introduced on Twitter. So wouldn’t it make sense that tink! potentially have something to do with Twitter? By Jove, I think we are on to something!
Detective Krystle BeauchampSo at the crime scene, we find Ms. Krystle Beauchamp turning over tweets, discarding erroneous clues while swearing to take no prisoners. Describing herself as "one stealth sleuth", Ms. Krystle Beauchamp, a Louisiana lass currently residing in Shreveport has been hard at work working the time-lines and piecing together the tweeted clues in a very methodical fashion.
And this is what she was able to uncover…
April 22 @ 8:22 AM: "tink!" is tweeted for the first time from the web, and 2 more times throughout the course of the day.
April 23 @ 5:29 PM: "Dante is here with me and he says hi to everyone!!! I’m giving his a twitter education." (very important clue).
April 23 @ 5:38 PM: "Dante is gonna make a video of me demonstrating what tink! is.. I’ll put it on the website or something…"
But 2 days past and no video?
April 25 @8:56 PM: "Dante says he’ll catch "tink!" when it happens tomorrow. You and I will have to trust him…"
A day passes… and our sleuth is realizing that patterns are starting to emerge. Recently she downloaded the Twitterberry app to her Blackberry to receive her tweets remotely. In so doing she realized that she could set Twitterberrry to power up at certain times and when it did power up… it sounded a "TINK/CHIME." (Eureka!)
Then Jordan Knight tweeted again:
April 26 @ 12:32 pm: "Dante got it! He got Tink! on camera!!! I’m sure it will happen again today but now it doesnt matter………he was there..he made it happen!"
Now it occurred to her that perhaps JK was setting his Twitterberry to power up in the AM, and that Twitterberryeven though he didn’t tweet about it until afternoon, that Dante who was now trained on Twitter and the Twitterberry was schooled enough to know to get up and videotape the Twitterberry sounded off at the time that his father set it, some where around 8:20 AM, according to the first time Jordan ever tweeted tink!
However on April 30, it appears he may have slept through the 8:20 Tink! wake-up call:
April 30 @ 9:48am: —"Tink! :)…………oh man……I’m late!" – The TINK/CHIME woke him up later than he wanted to get up…
Then on May 1st, it looks the Twitterberry powered up too early!
May 1 @ 7:26am: "Tink!……….ahhh it’s too early for this!!!!
On May 3, JK realizes that not only does the TINK/CHIME sound happen when the Twitterberry powers up, it also occurs when new tweets are coming in and the Twitterberry downloads randomly which is the import of the next tweet:
@ 8:45pm: —"I know its getting old but it just happens. just out of the blue, all of the sudden……………….Tink!!!!"
And then again very early, it sounded like it broke his sleep at 1:43 AM
May 5 @ 1:43 AM:"Man, what a day I had!!! I went to the gym, did a bunch of stuff at the house, played with the kids and then zzzzzzz……zzzzzzzzz…. arghh……. hmph… zzzzzzzzz…ahhhhh…….zzzzzz Tink!……..huh?………hmph………zzzzzzzzz."
On May 6 when he answered the tweet "Do you like TINK?," he answered with a "YES and NO, mostly yes!"
According to our Ace Detective, she interprets this tweet to mean "yes because he likes getting tweets from the fans, but no, because they come at inconvenient times throughout the day" causing the Twitterberry to download tinks! randomly.
AND THEN THE CLINCHER…. on..May 7 @ 8:53 PM, when he was asked if tink! has anything to do with him waking up he responded with… "Close… it has to DO with me waking up."
Now apparently, Jordan could turn off the "TINK/CHIME" and change it to vibrate, but it is our guess he keeps it "as is," to extend the life of this amusing parlor game he is playing with his fans! It’s our guess that what started off as a random event on Twitter, and probably would have been dismissed. if his fans hadn’t started to qusetion what tink! was all about. When the zeitgeist on Twitter took hold, Jordan became fascinated with the Seinfeldian way something trivial could manifest itself into becoming a trend setter!
If you’ve read the "Top Ten Things "tink!" could Be?" you know that all my previous tink! guesses had been vetoed including a "kiss from his son" and the "tink" sound that a hummingbird makes. And if you read "Tink! takes on a Life of Its Own" you’ve seen the cartoon, heard the tink! before you tweet slogan and know where to purchase the tink! merchandise. This week the Urban Dictionary even added tink! to its pages.
TWEET CHALLENGESo now looking forward, and starting now… I have a challenge for all of you. Since Jordan Knight just scooped us with the "sound of his eyelids" interpretation of tink! ??? I would like each one of you to send him off the following tweet..
RT tink! Part 4 … they can’t believe his blinking eyes! http://tinyurl.com/co3fsd
Detective Krystle BeauchampSo is the case wrapped up?…even though Krystle didn’t crack the case? Did the pretty policy adviser for hurricane recovery in Louisiana use her stealth sleuth savvy wisely to weave an interesting tale? Even though she wasn’t correct, I give her props for working the clues and making believers out of a lot of ust!
Oh, and PS, if you are thinking about getting a Twitterberry yourself, my advice is to keep it on vibrate! This last two weeks of tinking has given me a tweetin’ headache!
