Twitter Assignment

Twitter is a unique social medium in that it allows individuals in entertainment to be personal and professional, direct yet “out and about” at the same time. While the exact Twitter-tactics a publicist uses may differ from those of a celebrity, the bottom line is the same – Twitter allows one to connect with one’s publics like never before.

Michael Barnes, the entertainment reporter for The Austin American Statesman, has proved over the last week that he is a master tweeter. With an average seven posts per day, Barnes starts each morning with a tweet about his plans for the day and then follows up with personal reflections on those plans as they unfold. For example, Monday’s tweet to attend a University of Texas basketball game was followed with a big thank-you tweet after they won.

In between these updates, Barnes tweeted about new blog posts (such as his interview with Broadway’s Harvey Fierstein), PR buzz (such as for SXSW), and completely personal experiences (such as a satisfying visit to the Apple Store). Finally, Barnes occasionally re-tweeted buzz about local events and replied to few of his followers’ questions.

It is this type of seamless weaving of personal and professional life that makes Barnes such a successful tweeter. As an entertainment journalist, it is Barnes’ responsibility to spread the world about the Austin social scene and pass along newsworthy buzz sent to him by publicists. The mix of personal reflections and communication, however, makes a follower feel not as if Barnes is pushing press releases onto the masses but rather that he is truly in tune with Austin social life and is taking the time to share that life with others.

On the other hand, a lack of such personal communications results in a very conspicuous Twitter page. This was something that I was not expecting from Elaine Garza of Giant Noise, one of Austin’s most successful publicists. When Garza sent out her first tweet on Tuesday she had not tweeted for a week. Perhaps she had been on out of town, but in today’s world of Smart phones there is no excuse for anyone – especially a publicist – not to tweet.

Garza tweeted an average of only two-and-a-half times per day. Of her total 12 tweets during the week, seven were about current clients, with three of the seven about the same subject. Of the remaining four, three were re-tweets about Austin events and only one was solely personal.

Garza doesn’t take full advantage of Twitter’s biggest asset: the ability to connect on a personal level with one’s publics. By posting primarily about your client’s work, followers will quickly figure out that all you’re tweeting is business – business that you’re paid to talk about. In this case, what is the point of having a personal Twitter page at all? At the very least, Garza could have posed her tweets in the form of a question or call to action (for example, “go online and rate this new album” as opposed to “got a copy of new music CD, looks amazing”) to better engage her audience.

The last tweeter I followed this week was Rainn Wilson, star of the television series “The Office.” The minute I saw his first tweet, I knew I was in for some off-the-wall posts: “Now every morning when I poop, I quote Liam Neeson from the trailer of “Clash of the Titans” and shout, “Release the Kraken!”

Following posts were less blatant but no less amusing. They covered a wide and unpredictable range of topics, making Wilson very fun to follow throughout the week.

Like Barnes, Wilson’s average five tweets per day were a balanced variety of personal experiences, re-tweets from his followers, and notes about his professional life. When he did promote his own Web site, www.soulpancake.com, he phrased his tweets in a call to action, such as: “change your belief system with ‘The Contagious Love Experiment.’”

While Wilson is not financially obligated to tweet about any subject in particular, he frequently made references to current happenings in entertainment (for example, “Why do the aliens in Doodle-jump (iPhone game) say ‘30 rock! 30 rock!’ over and over again?”). This method not only makes personal connections with followers and engages them but also makes Wilson seem current and in-tune with pop culture.