Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Tweeting in the Moment: The Good, The Bad, & The Unfortunate

Yesterday it was announced that Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are having a baby. You may not read the tabloids...you may not even be a fan of That '70s Show (gasp!). But you know about the baby. In less than 24 hours the news has made its way to you. Why? Because you're on Twitter. And somebody (many people), somewhere (everywhere) has tweeted about it. And you've seen it. Whether you're excited, skeptical, or indifferent, you've know it's happening.

With over 645 million users on Twitter and 58 million tweets each day, it's no surprise that when news hits the platform, it spreads like wildfire. News stories are shared almost as quickly as they unfold. This opens the door for newsjacking (brands tying breaking news into their messages). It's a delicate art. Some brands have mastered it, and some...have not. This is why virtually instantaneous news sharing serves both as Twitter's claim to fame and its Achilles heel.

The Good:

-Oreo's 2013 Super Bowl tweet in response to the Superdome blackout is the classic example of successful newsjacking.


-ZzzQuil's tweet conveyed its message in a way that was both interesting and relevant to its followers. Unfortunately, hoping for peaceful sleep is a lost cause now...there goes my chance at being a billionaire.  


The Bad:

-While AT&T's tweet was not made in poor taste, people criticized it for taking advantage of such a catastrophic event. AT&T later removed the tweet and apologized for offending its followers.


-Entenmann's decided to increase its reach by using trending hashtags. Unfortunately, they didn't look into the meaning behind the hashtag #notguilty and ended up using the Casey Anthony trial to promote their brand. After discovering their mistake, Entenmann's also removed the tweet and apologized. 



The Unfortunate: 

In rare instances, we've seen news spread so quickly that the stars of the stories themselves don't know what's happening until they read about it on Twitter. Some of this year's Grammy nominees found out that they had won from the award show's official Twitter account during the pre-telecast. Talk about anticlimactic. And let's not forget about Darren Sproles. It's a sad day when an NFL player has to find out through Twitter that he is being traded.



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