What does 178,764 Twitter followers mean for TV ratings?
The answer may come tonight when "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" premieres. The former "SNL" star has made a huge deal about how his show will be interactive, digital, and generally 21st century.
That's why, for instance, there have already been dozens of Fallon webisodes and the show has its own blog. Fallon has also become one of the biggest celebrity Twitterers, with 178,764 people currently following his feed.
The question is, does that mean anything? Does signing up for Jimmy Fallon's Twitter feed mean you're actually interested in watching his show? Is it good publicity to remind people to watch? Or is it just a combintation of fandom and voyeurism that doesn't really connect to an "old fashioned" activity like turning on your TV at 12:35 AM?
Fallon's feed does provide a bit of insight into what his day is like. Today's he's twittered about everything from a sound check to getting a bottle of Johnny Walker from Carson Daly to the snow in NYC. And, yes, there are indeed several reminders to tune in or set DVRs.
Of course I've always suspected that the main goal of these types of multi-media extens are as much the publicity they generate as the actual customer engagement. A search for "Fallon twitter" on Google News generates 218 results. And, yes, even if I'm doing it in a meta manner, this is result 219. If reading this made you think about watching "Late Night" tonight, I guess that Twitter feed really did do some good.
Chris Morris reports on the the intersection of Hollywood and technology, as well as the latest must-have consumer technology gadgets.
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Twitter is dead. Actually it was never alive, it was just the flavor of the month. People glom on to it with stars to feel like there is no degree of seperation between them and that they have an "in" with someone.
Posted by: Tim | 03/03/2009 at 11:23 AM
whats funny to me is , now I will add him to my twitter
the closer we feel the someone the more we wont to know about them , but I will watch his show , I have twitter also
I think ask ton husker has more , who knows . I am wasting my time on this also
all the twit best
Posted by: lance | 03/03/2009 at 09:35 AM