Twitter.

[PSMKay]

I am absolutely horrified that we have NEVER mentioned the word twitter on this site before now.  We've done the facebook thing to death, but we've not ventured into discussions of its hyperactive baby brother.

I've recently registered for a twitter account, mostly to reserve my standard username, and am still trying to figure out how I want to use it.  Seeing as I've already got a facebook account and several blogs, all with their individual purposes, I'm somewhat hard-pressed to find something urgent enough to merit tweeting about.  As it's the only account that my parents have yet to find, it may wind up being stuff that I don't want them seeing.

Who's using twitter for theatre-related purposes?  Who's using it at all?  Have you found any unique and clever uses of it?

[Mac Calder]

TBH, I find this one of those "Annyoing Teen Technologies", and I don't really see it as a social advancement.

There is no guarantee of delivery, and there is very little guarantee it will be seen by the intended recipient (if they are subscribed to a million and one feeds). I think it encourages people to sit down and write meaningless messages for the point of writing a message, instead of sitting down to actually think about what they are going to send (a la email and letter writing of the past), increasing the Signal->Noise ratio.

As such, I don't think you could reliably depend on it as a communications system within a professional framework... Others with more experience of the technology may disagree, and I very much look forward to hearing those points of view.

[ChaCha]

I have been doing a lot of reading about social media since attending a web 2.0 seminar aimed at arts managers a few months ago. I have to say that twitter still eludes me. However I did read about a theatre in the US which set aside a section of the theatre ( I hope behind the paying customers!) and invited people twitter throughout the show. I guess the point was to maximise 'word of mouth' if you can call it that, and that old chestnut 'actively engage' the audience. I think in my mind i just felt a bit sorry for the actors. call me old fashioned, I won't be offended!

[missliz]

Yep, I have twitter. I was pressured into it (I was actually working an event and someone asked if I'd twitter for them during the show, then got the look of shock with "you don't have a TWITTER!?") but have found it a good way to keep up with friends, know where people are, etc. I'm not obsessive about it but it's a nice way to touch base. I'd say mine is about 50% theater/job, 50% personal.

I am also friends/following/what-have-you with other stage managers, both here and abroad. It's been nice to post little things about rehearsal/tech/performance and get a response almost immediately from other stage managers. I get news updates from broadwayworld.com and indietheater, so I stay informed. I've found it pretty useful in that regard too.

[heatonSM]

I'm a Chicago based SM and I know of one theater that used Twitter to announce a new show in their season.  They also did "live tweets" during a tech rehearsal.  While the main audience base may not be interested in something like that - I thought it was so cool!

I don't see twitter as a subsititue for any of our current methods of communications but I have had actors send me a tweet to ask about call time reminders etc.  I say, whatever will keep me connected is okay.

I do wonder people's thoughts about the tweeting during a performance.  On the one hand I can totally see how it can be useful for marketing purposes but the distraction possibilities are endless...what do people think about this integration?

[MatthewShiner]

The PR department has asked me, as resident production stage manager, to tweet during the production/tech process.  I usually try to update it once a day - although sometimes it is very hard to say "today we sat around and discussed Act 2" and make it sound exciting.

[crazylady]

Twittering was brought up last month at a production meeting. Honestly, I am one of those who don't see the point in it. It is essentially the exact same thing as text messaging. Is it free or do you pay for it? If you have to pay for it (which I assume you do, but maybe not) I just don't think I could justify it. I do think it is funny though - I went on their website awhile ago because I didn't understand it, and in the explanation (and trying to get you to use the service) it said that it cuts down on information overload - it seems to me you are actually getting MORE information.

[SLY]

Twitter is free. Just like facebook. I have yet to find a good reason for why I created an account on it. But I'm interested in finding one.

[KMC]

I never understood the purpose of twitter, and frankly I think the word "tweet" is mildly moronic! (Just a personal opinion, though!).  There's no funtion on twitter that can't be done on facebook, so to this point I have not created a twitter.

[BLee]

Thus far I have seen only a few good uses for Twitter. None of them are related yet to the non-advertisement sector of show business. In our college town most of the local businesses now have twitter accounts and facebook fan pages. They use these to advertise special discounts, encourage patrons to drop by and any other advertising they can do.

I personally have not joined Twitter and do not believe there is anything interesting enough in my life to justify micro-blogging. The only purpose I would ever join is to follow the companies that offer the discounts via Twitter or to follow the shows I really like to watch.

In the future, once it expands service (like Facebook did), I think we will be able to find more uses in theatre. To make it functional though it would need to work like text messaging. That way you could sent out immediate changes to a schedule or other messages that multiple people need but you don't have time to call. Like I said, it is a futuristic website service that could become useful with more features.

[K.Singleton]

My company uses it... I thought it was a bit weird at first, but I've gotten used to it. It helps when all of our staff is on it. If someone has a question, they just tweet it and everyone gets it sent to their phone at once. Yeah, a text would do the same thing, but eh. 

[missliz]

Not sure if any of you saw this, but Next to Normal just did a version of their show on Twitter...

http://twitter.com/n2nbroadway

The show elapsed in real time over a few weeks. I followed it and honestly wasn't totally impressed. But I thought it was an interesting use of twitter for theatrical advertising. There's also a show (Waterwell's #9) with live tweets from cast, crew, etc that are projected onstage as a live feed. I haven't seen the show so I can't tell you exactly how it's used, but what do you all think?

[ReyYaySM]

The New York Times just did an article on Next to Normal's use of Twitter as a marketing tool: It's Broadway Gone Viral.  It's fascinating how they used the site and they do attribute their boost in ticket sales to Twitter (well, that and their 11 Tony nominations...)

[maximillionx]

I can see the advertising side to twitter, but as a communications tool in a company, I just can't picture it. But perhaps I will be proven wrong.  I think with Facebook (or any website) and new forms of communication in our society, if you can use it to improve your business then all the power to you.

I never understood the purpose of twitter, and frankly I think the word "tweet" is mildly moronic! (Just a personal opinion, though!).

Totally agree.  I think I get enough of the tweets on twitter from the twits on the major news networks and radio stations to drive me insane anyway.

[MarcieA]

Has anyone heard about Daryl Eisenberg (casting director) and the twitter debacle?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/theater/15tweet.html

She tweeted about the actors as soon as they left the room, and some of the tweets were really mean

From what I understand, it wasn't just after they left - some of this happened during auditions. Regardles, it's unprofessional, not to mention rude and just plain despicable. Especially if your profile was public (as hers was at the time).