Twitter TV on way? – Maybe, kind of, but not really
This week began with reports that Twitter, the latest fad to hit the Web, would be moving to television. After an initial outbreak of hysteria and a huge number of retweets about the news, the truth has been revealed: Twitter TV isn’t happening, but a new television show using the power of Twitter is. That’s all. Nothing to see here.
Public holidays are always slow news days and this Monday was no exception. Which meant that when Variety reported that Twitter was getting its own television series the whole world (or at least blogosphere) went mad. The general consensus was one of consternation, especially when Twitter is still messing around with its platform and having regular down times. A TV show should surely be very low on the list of priorities.
The original article was very low on details, which is what gave everyone the chance to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, like a poorly completed crossword most of the answers proposed were wrong. Twitter has partnered with Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment as stated but the company isn’t directly involved with the production.
Brillstein’s Jon Liebman stated that the show would be “putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format,” and is “a compelling way to bring the immediacy of Twitter to life on TV.” Both of those things may well be true but the speculation that the show would revolve around the goings-on at the Twitter offices or be a version of Twitter on the television has proved incorrect.
It did unfortunately take Twitter two attempts to pour cold water on the intense rumor-mongering. Biz Stone’s first attempt on the Twitter Blog was rambling and not very clear. His second attempt spelled it out a lot better, unambiguously titled ‘We’re Not Making A TV Show’.
The truth, as explained by Stone, co-founder of Twitter, is that television execs are developing a show “that leverages Twitter.” Twitter isn’t directly involved in the process but hopes that this is the first of many such projects which utilize Twitter in ways not previously imagined. My guess on this occasion would be some kind of reality TV show where Twitter plays its part. Which, quite frankly, isn’t too exciting.
So, no Twitter TV for now and for that we should be grateful. However, there would have been one benefit to the original story, had it been true – Ashton Kutcher, he of the multi-million follower count, threatened to leave the site if this happened. A missed opportunity if ever there was one.
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May 28th, 2009
the tv show debacle hasn’t stopped the founders from talking about expanding the brand in other ways: http://www.newsy.com/videos/twee_vee_twitter_gets_down_to_business