Very Few People Are Being Innovative On Twitter But It Does Happen
Very Few People Are Being Innovative On Twitter But It Does Happen
I’ve outlined the two real ways I’ve seen people use their Twitter accounts in the tips above. Basically people seem to either be using their Twitter feeds as a fog horn, really just another broadcast mechanism to get their corporate message out there. There are people who are using Twitter to engage people in conversation, not focusing on their own message as much as they are focusing on the wider industry they are involved in and the seeking engagement from the people who follow them through the use of hashtags and the like. There are, of course, people who use it for a bit of a mixture of both, sharing links to stories posted to other sites as well as their own and engaging people casually, replying to messages. The fact of the matter is though, I rarely see anyone do anything earth-shattering innovative on Twitter.
There have been examples of people performing poems, writing novels 140 characters at a time, delivering nothing but interesting quotes or facts and live tweeting however I think there are really only two organisations who deserve honourable mentions for their efforts on Twitter in the theatrical sector. The first would probably have to be TwitPanto which took the wonders (possibly) of the traditional British pantomime from the stages of regional theatres across the land, straight on to Twitter’s theatrical boards with a massive, multi character, scripted performance just before Christmas. The project has run for the past two years and is the brain child of @Bounder with the commendable support of Birmingham Hippodrome who cunningly used it to remind people they had thousands of seats to fill for its own, real world, pantomime.
The second honourable mention goes to the very hard working Twitterers at @WestEndUpdates. The Twitter presence of theatre break supplier Show And Stay have augmented their enviable blog, with contributions from Guardian theatre writer Carrie Dunn, with a strong Twitter presence which could be seen as a case study in how to do engaging theatre tweets right. As well as live tweeting events such as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 3-hour-a-week-reality-casting-come-adverts for his latest revivals they also hold a Twitter quiz week-daily at 2.10pm. Using something as simple as a online theatrical pub quiz its amazing how many of the people I follow on Twitter suddenly start rushing to reply to questions about upcoming productions, song lyrics or general musical theatre knowledge. “Prizes” for the lucky winners of the quiz rounds tend to be links to relevant YouTube videos, again, spot-on new media engagement. 10 out of 10 for completely engaging your target audience with something that they are passionate about @WestEndUpdates.
Photo credit: webtreats on Flickr
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