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Rodale Twitters Obama’s Big Moment
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Steve Smith

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Rodale combined the real-time broadcast medium of Twitter with the leverage of its own editorial expertise to create a unique extension of magazine brands on Tuesday. The editors of Men’s Health (Peter Moore) and Rodale.com (Maria Rodale), executive editors of Women’s Health (Lisa Bain), Bicycling (David Howard), Runner’s World (Peter Flax) and several advisers to the publications tweeted their responses to President Obama’s address to the Joint Session of Congress. The company says the speech on health care reform addresses topics of health and wellness that Rodale properties engage in every day.

While it was an interesting experiment, to be sure, the end result was less than illuminating. Most of the running commentary we observed at the site during the speech quoted the president, or cheered him on. Our favorite quotes from participants included.

“John McCain could use some crest white strips.”

“I'm curious whether the word "exercise" will be uttered tonight?”

“Lots of long faces on the GOP side about the death-panel slapdown.”

“Hey, can applause be sarcastic?”

“I'm distracted by all the lavender ties.”

Sexy and trendy as it is, Twitter’s limitations as an editorial channel becomes obvious in cases like this. There was no opportunity for give and take with the readers during the speech and little room for these experts to make much of a point. The live Twitter channel does seem to work well when TV viewers are sharing a more visceral experience and swapping “OMG, he didn’t just do that!” comments or snide asides. In these cases, Twitter is adding a communal feel and adding minor detail to an audience experience. As a platform for informed commentary, perhaps such a stream needs to embedded in a larger set of links and online resources.

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