Will Tweet for Free Advertising

Mike Ryan wrote an article for Yahoo this past week entitled "Conan O'Brien's Twitter Account Draws Over 200,000 Followers in One Day." In it, he not only discusses the incredible explosion of popularity in Conan O'Brien's new, personal Twitter account, but also the Twitter accounts of numerous other talk-show hosts. Not all of these Twitterers have personal accounts like O'Brien does, preferring instead to have an account for the show. For example, "The Late Show" has a Twitter account run by its host, David Letterman, but Letterman does not have his own personal account.

These accounts, whether for personal or strictly business use, are a strange combination of publicity tools and a place to post actual, everyday observations, according to Ryan. Sometimes, you get people such as Jay Leno, who barely uses his Twitter and then only uses it to promote his show, and others you'll get people such as Jimmy Fallon, who updates frequently and even while on air in order to interact with his viewers. Accounts such as Fallon's naturally have more followers than the Leno variety Twitterers.

Popular or not, though, every Twitter is, no doubt, a new kind of advertising. And--even better for shows present on Twitter--it's free.

Whether or not the Twitter is completely personal, such as O'Brien's (he no longer hosts a show, after all), or not, all of these Twitter accounts advertise their host's talk show. After all, if you're following Jimmy Fallon, frequent updater, you're not going to miss that at a certain time on certain nights, he is on set, hosting NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." And, if you're a big enough of a fan to follow Fallon on Twitter, that probably means you'll be sure to tune in to his show. Other accounts, such as Jay Leno's, are blatant advertisements for the shows each individual hosts.

This form of advertising is, in a way, cost-cutting for the stations producing the show. With the advertisement from Twitter, some money spent on advertising is definitely being saved, as the site is free. Even on shows as cheap to produce as all these talk shows (compared to other programming like dramas such as "One Tree Hill", etc.), producers are looking for ways to save money on advertising.

After all, as I've learned in class, the more viewers a show gets, the more space advertisers will want to buy in order to reach those possible consumers of whatever product they're selling. And, even better, the more the advertisers will be willing to pay for those spots! Even talk shows are, therefore, aiming to deliver us to the commercials. Even when we're being informed about events and happening in the world around us, we are still being "sold" to advertisers as we watch.

So, yes, some Twitter accounts may be personal, but free advertising is still possible with those accounts. Even O'Brien, the host without a show, may be "promoting" a future comedy tour, according to rumor. If advertising is so engrained in everything these people do--it's Twitter after all; 140 characters!--what does that say about us as a nation? Are we only here to be led to consumption? I hope not.