This article is not technical in nature and written in an editorial fashion. If this is not to your liking, please feel free to scroll to a posting that suits your fancy.
Fox has decided to utilize twitter to drum up interest in repeats of previously aired shows in the coming weeks (Fringe and Glee). Fox is calling these “tweet-peats” and cast members and producers tweets will scroll across the bottom of the screen discussing the shows and answering moderated questions. Now I give Fox props for using a popular social media tool to engage fans and generate additional viewers for repeats of shows that would otherwise have likely been skipped in lieu of, well, anything.
However, I have two questions:
1. Is this information overload? Is this a test run for integrating tweets into new episodes as well? Personally, I enjoy turning off the computer and zoning out to some of my favorite shows. But am I becoming the minority? Is the younger generation really able to multitask this efficiently? If so, I am impressed! (I am assuming a younger generation is the target market as I don’t see Fox targeting Baby Boomers for Twitter streams during Fringe, call me crazy).
2. While this is being called a joint venture between Fox and Twitter, do you really think Twitter did anything but answer an email saying, “Sure, why not?”. To me, Twitter has missed the boat multiple times in recent weeks for using its fame to begin to generate some type of revenue. Now they may have their plans in place, but it just seems as though the company is waiting till critical mass to start making money.
Please let us know what you think about this use of Twitter in the comments. Too much? Just another step in the “Twevolution” (btw, I am coining that if no one else has!)? Are you foaming at the mouth to contribute?