Earlier this month I shared with you about an experiment that I wanted to do on ‘conversations with power’ via Twitter. The idea came about partly as somewhat of a celebration of the fact that, with Twitter, communication barrier between so-called power players and the majority (us ordinary mortals) appears to have been broken down. There is the possibility to engage with anyone you want to – and people you may never really have had the opportunity to reach before. Pretty hypothetical but I figured it was worth a look.
The challenge:
In a broad sense, I wanted to flex the biceps of Twitter.
The method:
With the help of some very helpful tweeps we curated a hit list as long as your arm, with the likes of Lily Allen and Richard Branson (and yes, Nick Clegg) making an appearance. And then I took it to the tweets.
The Process:
I thought I’d build my confidence starting slow, ticking two of my list on the first day. First I asked @BillBailey to tell us a joke. No response. At first we gave him the benefit of the doubt because apparently he was on tour and was perhaps in different time zones. So I scheduled a retweet to reach him where he was. I even told him a joke first, hoping he would reciprocate. Still no response.
Maybe I wasn’t funny enough.
Then I asked @jamie_oliver what he was having for lunch. Three times. I saw you tweeting, Jamie, don’t pretend you didn’t hear me.
Needless to say the experiment wasn’t off to a good start.
Throughout the experiment I asked @richardbranson about business and even complemented his mother.
I suggested @lilyroseallen try @mooli’s to satisfy her cravings. I also replied to her comment about that #meatdress and said she could totally pull it off.
I asked @dianebirch where she gets her hats from (which I still really want to know, and if she says they’re ‘vintage’ I’ll cry).
I checked in with @kanyewest to see how he was doing since his meltdown on Twitter.
I shared a really cool link with @tyrabanks. Bitch.
I asked Mark Watson why the chicken crossed the road and @Nick_Clegg if his favourite colour really was orange. Yes, Nick Clegg.
Eventually I openly approached ‘celebrities’ asking them to ‘help me with my experiment’… in their own language!
I figured the hashtag #pleasetalktomeimnotmad might of come into play in moments of desperation. Not sure if it worked…
The Result:
Well, I wouldn’t call the experiment a failure, but then again, some of the best lessons are usually learned from failure. Basically, no-one (from the list) really talked to me.
So what lessons can we take away from this experiment? Well in the words of existential psychologist, Rollo May:
“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.”
While the celebs didn’t respond to my plea for attention – something even better happened. It was my existing friends and followers (my Tweeps) that got behind me.
I had Tweeple, some I had never met in person, taking the time to suggest celebrities which celeb would be interesting or more likely to respond. Most of the time I had no idea who they were talking about (I’m not from here, Toto), but we gave it a shot. In some situations this required guest Twitterer @AntDLewis to create some relevant content…
It was so much fun to see people getting involved, retweeting my messages and sharing what I was doing (big thanks to @PinkTipi).
And those translated messages – they were in Welsh! Translated by the very beautiful and very talented Lucy Payne aka @rubylup, who I met (through Twitter) in the flesh that same afternoon.
It was this that was incredibly encouraging.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, as a business, remember to not forget those in your immediate network because they are potentially your best ambassadors waiting to be involved in what you’ve got going on, and to be engaged with. Thank you, real people. I will not forget you. In fact, we’ll probably chat very soon.
By Jill Ruthenberg
