Twitter, like everybody else, Twitter has its good weeks and its bad weeks. This week was a little of both for the micro-blogging giant. With some high-profile marketing campaign flops, a half-assed Twitter-pology and a major technical glitch, the all-powerful PR and marketing tool definitely took some hits.
Twitter marketing and follower support has been credited for saving brands and reinventing images. But when Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program was in danger of being canceled and the Tweetosphere was flooded with fans crying out to the network to save the cable show, no such rescue could be had. Silverman’s a subversive comedian who is also a brand in the making. She has a hit book, DVDs and millions of Twitter followers. The show was nearly axed in 2009 when Silverman threatened to walk off the show after the production budget was slashed. This time around, Silverman had her Tweeps on her side, reposting supportive messages to Comedy Central. Campaigns like Silverman’s have worked before and with the sheer numbers behind her it seemed like there might be hope. Yet seemingly the network didn’t care what Tweeters had to say and announced on Wednesday the show would not be coming back.
In order to nip rabid diva rumors in the bud, Glee star Lea Michelle took to the bird to apologize for her much-blogged-about tiff with a photographer at the Time 100 gala who didn’t know she was. The apology seems limp as do all weak tweets to followers to excuse bad behavior. Yawn.
Another Twitter nightmare happened earlier this week: Millions of users discovered that their hard work whoring to followers was now null and void when they woke up to find they now had zero followers. The ego-crushing blow, which happened to everybody from hip burrito joints to the first lady of Twitter herself, Demi Moore, was caused by a hacking scheme. The hack was called out by Gizmodo and was soon repaired. Those who lost followers, however, were forced to start again.
And yet the Tweet didn’t totally hit the fan this week. There’s that big Square announcement which will allow anybody to accept credit cards by using a tiny device and their smart phone. Square was cooked up by one of Twitter’s co-founders. Plus, rumors of the launching of a Twitter business center may finally be coming true, and Twitter was featured in a glowing interview with Glen Gilmore on The Huffington Post. So buck up, Tweeters. There’s bound to be some bumps in the road for Twitter and all of our online marketing tools.
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