Dear well-known folks on Twitter;
I have a few thoughts that will require more than 140
characters to express. Twitter has grown from novelty to general fun to
powerful marketing tool. For many actors, musicians, comedians, and other
artists, this now presents direct access to fans in a manageable way. Ironically,
something as simple as posting brief status updates is a little more
complicated when we look a little longer than the time it takes to quickly scan
our Twitter feed.
It only takes a moment to post a note about your day-
something you saw, a quick photo taken by your iphone- and suddenly, tens
of thousands of followers have a glance into your personal life. This can actually
be great marketing in itself. If we’re a little bit invested into a person, we
are more likely to pay attention to their work. For instance, I always thought
kindly of
Ashley Judd, especially
since my Kentucky Mamaw also sang high praises of their whole family. Now,
after following her on Twitter and learning how much action she puts into her
beliefs, I notice when she has a new movie or television show.
But, I can’t help but wonder if this creates the same effect
that radio personalities experience. Day after day, a listener spends time with
their “radio friend” in the car and at home. After a while, the person on air
becomes familiar. It almost seems like they are someone the listener personally
knows. This, of course, can blur the lines of reality and, in extreme cases,
cause issues with boundary-challenged fans. It’s easy to share anything on
Twitter, and it’s easy to forget what it means to have thousands of individuals
reading your personal thoughts. Is it easy to forget the line between private
and public life?
I know that, as one person, my opinion matters little.
However, I suspect that, though I am but one person, this opinion is shared by
many others. With that in mind, might I point out a few things that would make
you, the celebrity, better at Twitter?
1. Connecting with your followers in this format is a
fantastic way to strengthen your fan base. Take advantage of that. When
Jane Leeves noted my dog, Yoshi’s,
cuteness, it was rad.
Crystal
Lewis recently shared a blog about running and faith that really touched
me. I was able to share feedback and it was acknowledged. Thanks, ladies!
Personal connection makes the world smaller and keeps us interested in what you
have to say.
2. Limit your retweets, please. Yes, there are many people
in our world in need, and it is genuinely FANTASTIC that you are using your
voice to help. However, when this is done so frequently, it doesn’t accomplish
anything. Seeing “RT: Please help raise money/awareness for
[organization]/[person]…” is an immediate cue to the brain to skip and move to
the next item. It’s not that we don’t care, but we get desensitized by seeing
it so often. And we know that you’re barely taking a fraction of a second to hit “retweet”
and have no knowledge or investment in the cause. Not only do we not know if
this particular organization is legit, but, subconsciously, we wonder if you
don’t care, why should we?
3. On that note, PLEASE stop retweeting compliments and
praise. PLEASE. Yes, you’re awesome. If we weren’t fans, we wouldn’t be
following you in the first place. Yes, we are aware that other fans are
positively gushing over your awesomeness. But, why do you think we are interested in
reading it? While you might see affirmation of a job well done, the minute you
hit “retweet” it is re-translated into “I desperately need everyone to see how
much I am adored.”
4. Thank you for sharing news and upcoming events! Twitter is
a great way to stay up-to-date on these things. Can you please balance it with
a few actual personal thoughts? Remember, Twitter’s greatest advantage is
personal connection (see a theme?).
5. Don’t be afraid to do your thing. Chances are, we are
following because we like your work. Thank you,
Ellen, for putting some humor into
your posts. Thanks,
Carlos Whittaker,
for sharing your perspective about faith and real life. And thank you,
Carly Fleischmann, for helping us
understand autism. But, where is your snark,
Kathy Griffin?
6. Don’t be afraid to follow us, even for just a little
while. Forget market research or whatever trends the studio execs are reporting
in your notes. You have the chance to see for yourself exactly what people are
interested in and what they are thinking- and specifically from people who are also interested in
your work. Personal connection can go two ways!
Ok, that’s probably enough for now. There have been at least
37 updates to my Twitter feed since I started typing this, and I wouldn’t want
to miss anything
The Hollywood Reporter
has published.
* Thanks to the following folks for also unknowingly
contributing to this post (and you might consider following):
