A Monthly Meditation on Branding and Language From Your Favorite Copy
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Emergency
#32 (Sept. 25, 2009):
A Tweet of Evil
In this issue: a Twitter apocalypse, how trying to sound smart can be hell and a possible sign of Armageddon from the Not Our Clients files. The devil's in the details — read on.
Tweeting the End Times: Supernatural Branding
This is another story of Twitter, about which you've likely already heard a lot. But this particular tale of the tweet is an object lesson in how the "micro-blogging" bellwether of social media can boost an entertainment property — but not always in ways that adhere to corporate priorities.
Much pop-industry talk about using Twitter, Facebook and kindred sites for promotional purposes misses a crucial point: These are unpredictable, organic, user-driven phenomena.
It really bugs me when I hear someone use the word "individual" when all they mean is "person." It happens a lot with law-enforcement
spokespeople. They also tend to say "vehicle" when they could say "car" or "truck."
I don't think they talk like that when they're hanging out at
Dunkin' Donuts; I think they only talk like that when they're facing an audience. And I think they talk like that when they're facing an audience
because they're concerned they might not sound sufficiently official or authoritative or, I suspect, smart.
Someone went to the trouble and expense of having this sign designed and printed — and was therefore firmly confident in its spelling.
The custermer is always rite.
Oh, would that we could tow away the agita we feel when looking upon this and other entries in the Not Our Clients impound lot. There's always a parking space for your contributions, though — just follow the information superhighway and exit
Thanks to Jeff Norcross of Jamison, Pennsylvania, for sending this in; he'll be driving off with an iTunes gift card.
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This is another story of Twitter, about which you've likely already heard a lot. But this particular tale of the tweet is an object lesson in how the "micro-blogging" bellwether of social media can boost an entertainment property — but not always in ways that adhere to corporate priorities.
It really bugs me when I hear someone use the word "individual" when all they mean is "person." It happens a lot with law-enforcement
spokespeople. They also tend to say "vehicle" when they could say "car" or "truck."
