2010 Best of the Web: Use of Twitter
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
People didn’t just launch into Twitter in 2009. It created a brand platform from the microblog. With dedicated profiles and pages for its People.com, People Pets and StyleWatch brands, the magazine has used the format to target audience tastes more effectively than any single Web site can.
The main @peoplemag address has become an active exchange between editors and readers, where feedback to the magazine flows freely and brand loyalists come to expect the celebrity brand to serve breaking news first. The StyleWatch feed became an especially strong platform for People’s signature red carpet coverage and real-time interactions during televised events like Project Runway and American Idol. And the surprise hit of the Twitterverse, People’s Pets feed (@PeoplePets, 1 million followers), has become a massively popular hub for animal lovers.
In 2009, People’s Twitter triumph came with the run-up to its annual Sexiest Man Alive reveal. The editors used Twitter to drop clues of the winner’s identity. The result was a bump of more than 27,000 new followers in a week and over 2,000 messages around the #sexiestmanalive conversation. The amplification of the exchanges via celebrity postings from the likes of John Legend, Chris Daughtry and others helped the campaign reach over 3.1 million Twitter users.
People has learned the multiplier effect of Twitter and in short order made it a polished tool in its publishing suite that enhances relationships.
Honorable Mentions:
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. – Martha Stewart: With nearly 2 million followers and the #AskMartha hashtag now established as a conduit between Martha and her TV viewers every day, MSLO continues its pioneering role in using the microblog format to deepen relationships, 140 characters at a time.
SmartMoney – SmartMoney.com: ReliveTheCrash: Perhaps the most innovative and imaginative use of Twitter last year was to present history in real time. SmartMoney created a novel wayback machine by tweeting news stories of the great crash of 2008 on the corresponding days in 2009. This was a remarkable experiment in narrative.
Time Inc. – Health: Time Inc.’s Health has used the Twitter platform to make itself part of the real-time news conversation, giving its brand followers more than just editorial links—it enables them to share health and wellness tips they can all live by.
Wired.com: Wired isn’t just “on Twitter,” it actually programs Twitter with a rotating series of editors who have ownership of the editorial space each week. By merging microblogging with the sensibilities of traditional radio hosting, the brand grew its audience by hundreds of thousands in a matter of weeks.
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