<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d16149408\x26blogName\x3dThe+Blogulator\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLACK\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://chrisandqualler.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://chrisandqualler.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d4655846218521876476', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

« Home | Next » | Next » | Next » | Next » | Next » | Next » | Next » | Next » | Next » | Next »

Stars: They're Nothing Like Us (The Twitter Edition)

Everyone's talking about the Twitter and the Facebook and the Myspace these days. They've been touted as the new, innovative marketing super-tools. One of my coworkers even called another coworker the other day about a "Twitter emergency" (read: he didn't know how to operate 'the tweeting'). Everyone is constantly talking about the possibilities of using Twitter as if the internet relaunched itself into 140 character blocks and the whole world is trying to figure out how utilize it all over again. Universities think prospective students are actually going to follow them on Twitter to learn about their programs. Businesses think that Twitter is a good way to advertise. And probably the least crazy of all, celebrities have used Twitter to propel themselves even further into stardom. Ashton Kutcher recently won a challenge against CNN to be the first Twitter account to get a million followers. Not that it was really a fair fight. I mean, who would you rather follow: boring news or celebrity lifestyles? Duh.




The price of admission of being a 'pioneer' in new technology is explaining to old people what the kids are into and how it's different from the technology they are used to. For example, why is Twitter restricted to 140 characters? Why don't you just send an email if you want to update someone on your life? Or what makes this 'social networking?' To really sell it you have to get them to be comfortable enough with the technology to do it themselves. This can be achieved by testifying that some other old person uses Twitter. That's where the graphics displaying that 'Larry King is on Twitter and so is Oprah!" come in. And to seal the deal you have to get someone who has just faded out of the limelight/possibly on the boarder of washed up to testify that the new technology is just like what used to be cool. P. Diddy is a good choice for Larry King because the older generation still think that he is cool, but he's with it enough to speak intelligently on the topic.

So Twitter has become so popular in a matter of months that even our parents' generation is using it. All of that being said, though, the writing was on the wall for total and utter sellout opportunities fairly quickly. The popularity of social networking sites simply grew far too rapidly. Two days ago, a pretty ambiguous article appeared in Variety Magazine outlining (sort of) a potential new reality series about Twitter that is supposed to put "ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format." Whatever that means. Though it was fairly non-descript, it was enough to put number one tweeter, Ashton Kutcher, on edge. They barely even said anything in the article - (it was practically short enough to tweet) - but it sent The Kutch into enough of a panic that he threatened to stop tweeting all together.

I wish I had more to report on this new reality series, but not many details came out about it. My prediction is that it's going to be fairly boring since I can't really imagine how a show could interestingly use Twitter for a watchable television show. Whatever it is, I certainly hope it won't rob the world of The Kutch's inside scoop.

Labels: , ,

leave a response