Christina Vittas is Elmo’s social media manager, and unless you’ve been hiding under a (pet) rock, you’ve probably noticed that the tweet Vittas wrote for Elmo on Monday has dominated the social media conversation this week, opening up a national discussion about mental health.
Vittas is a 25-year-old woman living in Hoboken, N.J., who says she has always had a special relationship with the furry little red guy. Her birthday is Feb. 2, which is a day before Elmo's birthday on Feb. 3. Her only pet was inspired by his — she had a goldfish named Dorothy.
As the social media voice for a 3.5-year-old muppet, she did not expect the reaction her tweet got this week.
"It's really everywhere," Vittas tells TODAY.com. "I have friends in Iceland right now. They're doing a remote hiking trip. And they texted me immediately that it was all the tour group could talk about. So it's really so exciting."
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On the morning of Jan. 29, Vittas, who composes all of Elmo's messages on X, posted two simple sentences: “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?”
The tweet has more than 180 million views, with responses from Dionne Warwick, T-Pain, Rachel Zegler, Garfield and TODAY’s very own Craig Melvin.
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The innocent question opened the floodgates of trauma, with many sharing their deepest fears and existentialist dread with Elmo.
"Not good, Elmo, not good," one response said, summing up the general mood.
Yesterday afternoon, Elmo responded to everyone, "Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you. #EmotionalWellBeing"
But the story doesn't stop there — the President of the United States retweeted Elmo's response, adding, "Our friend Elmo is right: We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it."
"Now that was a notification I'll never forget," Vittas says of the moment she saw President Biden's retweet.
After Vittas first posted Elmo's message on Monday morning, she tried to reply to as many commenters as she could, which is normal for her. "When Elmo comments back to people, it really makes their day a little bit brighter," she says.
But as the tweet started to pick up steam, she couldn't keep up with the responses. "It was a whirlwind!" she says. She refreshed her screen throughout the day as she worked from home, and her roommates heard her laughing each time a particularly funny response appeared. She says, "T-Pain ... I never thought I would see the day!"
One response delighted Vittas the most.
Brittny Pierre (@sleep2dream) wrote: "Elmo's social media manager reading all the responses like..." and included a gif of Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy on "Succession" watching his email blow up.
Vittas jokes that she wants to buy Pierre a coffee because she’s been sent this tweet so many times.
“I really appreciate that personally,” she says. “We all believe that Elmo is a living, breathing monster on Sesame Street, but there are people that understand that this is social media, there’s someone behind the scenes doing the work, and I felt a great response from the marketing community.”
Vittas has been working with Sesame Workshop since 2019, when she interned there the summer before her senior year at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. "I knew my time there was going to be really special, and I really took full advantage," she says.
After that summer, Vittas says, "I knew I needed to find my way back to Sesame Street." She returned as a part-time copywriter for the social team and eventually moved into a full-time role. Currently, she's the social media manager for Sesame Workshop.
Vittas says she studies Elmo's performer Ryan Dillon, the show's content, special guest stars and company initiatives to help her channel "what Elmo would say, do, think and feel. That's really what helps ground me when writing captions for Elmo."
This isn't the only viral moment Vittas experienced with Elmo. She has fond memories of Elmo's feud with a pet rock named Rocco.
"I thought it was never going to get better than Elmo and Rocco, and then this happened," Vittas says. "I feel like lightning did strike twice — and then some."
Why does Vittas think this tweet felt so electric?
"It's a weird place in the world to be right now," Vittas says, "so there's a lot of question marks out there."
When someone kind like Elmo asks you how you're doing, she says, "You're going to be a little more honest because you know a caring friend is listening and genuinely wants to know. The foundation of friendship Elmo has with the world really resonated."
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