Twitter has suddenly got very busy. A bunch of celebs have signed-up and are generating huge amounts of attention that’s edging the micro-blogging platform into the mainstream.
It’s the offline PR tactic of the moment. How long before a national or celeb magazine starts publishing a list of celeb Tweets? In fact its probably already been done.
It’s an issue that I discussed with pals on Twitter this morning and tonight at the London Bloggers meet-up tonight.
Jonathan Hopkins (@jopkins) captured the mood.
Gary Andrews (@garyandrews) at the London Bloggers meet-up tonight said it’s like your favourite pub has been invaded by a bunch of trendy types and you’re trying to work out whether you should try and fit in or move on.
We’re all here to stay of course, but it’ll be interesting to see whether this is a step change for Twitter or if it will settle down after this burst of interest. My missus is yet to be convinced.
Tags: Twitter
Me, a hardcore user? Hmm. Funny seeing that tweet up there looking all official and definitive. I’ve just found it very odd watching all the activity surrounding all the celebs jumping on board – some people have just surprised me with their reactions. People I thought wouldn’t really be dazzled by celebrity. Just for the record – I’ve followed all the celebs, most have followed back and I am loving the fact that I’m getting a never-seen-before insight into their lives. Schofe for example seems like a great guy and Stephen Fry is awesome as we all know. I don’t think it’s the celebs that spoil it. It;s the reactions of us ‘normal’ folk that may do. People more than ever need to get used to the fact that we are all human beings. And Twitter is a level playing field. . . . .
Mine too
I wonder about this “mainstream” thing. I already know several of my mates who’ve got totally bored of my work-y tweets (fair enough), so have unfollowed me but still follow eachother…It’s all about how you use it isn’t it? And I quite like the fact there are no real rules. If people want to know every move that Britney/Brand/Ross/Fry make, then fair enough, I reckon.To be honest, I’m surprised that celebs haven’t taken over the interwebz sooner. With one or two exceptions (e.g. Lily Allen – who’s not on Twitter as far as I know), I think that they (or their PRs) have been slow to the game with regard to how they can set and react to the (sleb) news agenda on their own personal sites. But now (thanks to Twitter) they can also give their fans instant broadcastable gratification with a direct or @response….We’re going to see many more celebs here. As Gary Andrews says, let’s all get used to it or get used to ignoring them…
It’s interesting to see this develop. Twitter seems to be more middle aged/middle class than other forms of social media. Not sure why but that would attract Jonathan Ross/Stephen Fry and articles in Daily Mail.
I think the celeb craze was inevitable and maybe had to happen anyway to drive numbers up (bees to the celeb honeypot) to make it useful for businesses. It doesn’t stop people using Twitter as a networking tool and the mass-market usage might create the impetus for interesting new applications.(I like Gary Andrews comment though)
The thing that unsettles me is the brown-nosing and genuflection before the likes of Stephen Fry. It’s not the celebs spoiling Twitter, it’s the curious British behaviour towards the cult of celebrity that could ruin Twitter.It seems there are a couple of people on there – one particular journo springs to mind – whose only goal in life is to solicit a DM from @stephenfry. As such you have to to stop following them because it’s like watching somebody try to chat up a girl long after the whole bar has worked out she ain’t interested…and now I see Jonathan has already made the same point… seems a very wise man.