To tweet or not to tweet?

blog by Tim Ball (timtweeting)

Whatever you may think about Twitter its growth is astounding. The social networking and mini-blogging service was launched in 2006 and the latest figures from Neilsen Online show that it grew 1,382% from February 2008 to February 2009, registering a total of just over 7 million unique visitors in the US for that month. Another recent estimate from Comscore put the worldwide number at 1.3 million unique users for March 2009. And these figures don’t take into account those who Tweet via mobiles or instant messaging rather than through the Twitter website itself.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the staggering number of users it often gets a bad press, currently over the way it can spread (mis)information about the swine flu pandemic. Others say it just adds lots more dull, trivial and uninformed chatter into the blogosphere.

However as the indie sector struggles to come to terms with the huge challenges presented by the internet and in particular the rise of social media platforms there’s no better time to dive into this networked world. And as a convert to Twitter I think it’s got much to offer.

It can be a valuable source of information on subjects that interest you – either professionally or personally. For example I use Twitter to receive updates from people such as media futurist Gerd Leonhard (gleonhard), media commentator Jeff Jarvis (jeffjarvis) and social media experts Euan Semple (euan) and Pete Cashmore (mashable). These feeds get you in to the zeitgeist and provide really helpful links to material you might not otherwise find.

It’s a good way of keeping up to date with the latest news (I particularly like BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones who tweets as ruskin147) and following alternative sources to the mainstream media outlets.

It’s also a potential route to new commissions! At a recent ITF Open Forum Louise Brown (who heads up cross-platform commissioning at Channel Four) said that one of the the best ways of getting to know what she was interested in and what to pitch to her was to follow her tweets (louby). She also suggested that using Twitter and other social media generates an understanding of how communities interact online. The BBC too is getting on the Twitter bandwagon; it has just announced that it will be sending out tweet alerts when new commissioning briefs are posted on its website.

Production units like the Coast team (coasttv) are using it as a simple and direct way of keeping in touch with updates whilst on location. And of course these are open to fans of the programme as well as the professional film-makers themselves. The aim is to make the production process more transparent.

Otherwise you can use Twitter to discover like-minded people either within your own or a related industry. There’s much talk of collaboration between traditional indies and digital media producers – could Twitter help bridge the gap?

Similarly finding good talent is always hard. You can use Twitter to send out a message asking for recommendations. In this way you can find talented individuals beyond your own network who may otherwise have been invisible to you.

Looking for a new job yourself? Then consider this tweeting challenge. The Murphy-Goode winery in Sonoma County, California is offering a six-month, rent-free opportunity where you get to learn about the production of high-end wine. All you have to do is share your experiences and newly-gained knowledge through Twitter and other social platforms. And you get paid $10,000 a month! Of course this is all part of a clever PR campaign but it also demonstrates the power of Twitter as a marketing platform.

Finally there’s no doubt that the amount of information can become overwhelming so it’s best to use an app which will help collate and organise this. My own favourite is Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) which is like a personal browser for keeping tabs on all those you follow. It has an attractive and practical interface, allows you to send and receive tweets and is compatible with MS Windows and Mac OS.

Information overload at work? Some wag has proposed that email should be scrapped and all organisations should only use Twitter to communicate – if you can’t say it in 140 characters then it isn’t worth saying at all?! Now there’s an idea!

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Tags: Add new tag, coasttv, louise brown, tim ball, timtweeting, tweet, tweetdeck, twitter
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So what’s all this multiplatform business?

Can you now pitch successfully for a TV commission using just 140 characters on Twitter?
This was one of the questions raised in ITF’s provocative and topical Open Forum discussion “So what’s all this multiplatform business?” in a full house at London’s Framestore cinema on 18th March.

Jokingly suggested by Endemol’s Digital Media Director Peter Cowley, the idea was taken up with enthusiasm by Louise Brown, Channel 4’s new Head of Cross-Platform Commissioning, who encouraged the TV and digital media professionals in the audience to get on as many networks as possible. She also suggested that planning how to develop and manage communities of viewers/users was now becoming increasingly important, as well as deciding how and when to respond to them. Her own checklist for cross-platform commissions is “niche, open & interactive”.

In his opening remarks the chairman Andrew Chitty, MD of Illumina Digital, had set the scene by noting the challenge of the shift from broadcast platforms to participatory online media, and the resulting creative and commercial impetus to engage users across multiple platforms. Acknowledging the threats to local media producers and ad-funded broadcasters, and of Video on Demand to niche broadcast channels, he asked what the role of PSB would be in this new environment.

C4’s Louise Brown said she thinks the digital production explosion will be good news for small suppliers and the creators of electronic games. New content ideas can initially be tried out at lower cost on the web before TV transmission (like C4’s “Osama Loves” which was made in partnership with Mint Digital).

Peter Cowley explained how much more challenging than TV commissions it is to get digital and non-broadcast projects off the ground because, as well as the content, the producer now has to find the funding and the platform, and also identify and develop the target community. It is higher risk but there should be a higher potential reward.

Jonathan Jackson, COO of the Digital Rights Group , pointed out that digital rights currently make up only a small percentage of overall distribution and sales deals but that he expected them to grow rapidly.

Anthony Lukom, MD of MySpace UK, stated that providing the platform and acting as a broker between the content-provider and potential sponsors, as MySpace does, was the model for the future.
After Cowley showed a clip of Endemol’s short  viral HD mini-drama series “Kirill” for MSN, Lukom proposed that one way forward to avoid product placement issues is to do a cheaper branded version on the internet, and a full high-quality version for TV transmission without  the commercial content. Although product placement is commonplace in the USA and Holland for example, it still appears to be a dirty word for Ofcom and the government in Britain, so the more acceptable new term may be “product integration”…

Lukom  also said that social community networks can now complement and greatly reinforce TV broadcasting. “Skins” was successfully previewed on MySpace before its transmission on E4. Just as music fans have broken the industry’s commercial clout by expecting to download tracks for free, Lukom believes that the success of what has traditionally been TV content will now be decided by the user, and not the broadcaster.

The chairman Andrew Chitty concluded by asking what skills gaps there are if we want to succeed as Digital Britain in the future. (He is a member of Lord Carter’s committee who produced the recent interim report.)  Rather than digital technologists he thinks we need more effective service design producers to provide a better overall digital media experience.  Anthony Lukom is looking for people who can adapt longer-form media content structures to short-form interactive with strong social network appeal.

Both Lukom and Cowley ended by saying that if the government and Ofcom try to over-regulate the media industry, and especially the “unregulate-able” digital sector, they will hold back British creativity and future economic success in this area.

This Open Forum event was staged in association with Film London

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Tags: Add new tag, andrew chitty, anthony lukom, jonathan jackson, louise brown, multiplatform, open forum, peter cowley
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