Comedians show up on Twitter (and tell a few jokes)

I've noticed an emerging subset of people on Twitter: comics. Over the past 2 years, famous standup comedians took to the tweetscape, initially for promotional purposes. And at first, it was a lot of this:

LouisCK: Okay. Tonight. at 10:30pm. on FX. It's the Season 2 premiere of LOUIE. Please watch it with your face.

Over time, these comedians began to build followings and their colleagues joined the fray. Somewhere along the way (and I don t remember specifically when this was), the 140-character tweet became a challenge: how funny can one be within the confines of 140 characters? This challenge continued to evolve: first, previously established standups began using twitter as a wet stone to sharpen their comedic skills, forcing them to melt down an entire act into short jokes. The influx of standups fostered a community of new comics without audiences who simply wrote jokes all day. Often it was crass stuff, but over the past year, it s started to get a lot of attention. Megan Amram tweeted her way into the writer s room for the 2011 Academy Awards and her own sitcom. Longtime blogger (and parent) Kelly Oxford started to use twitter to hone her joke-writing skills and eventually connected with Jimmy Kimmel and Jessica Alba; now she has a development deal with CBS and over 150,000 followers.

Twitter is often seen as a way to promote work that exists in another medium. For comics and writers who can tell jokes, as it turns out, Twitter is that medium.

LJ Fizzles while Hasselbeck Pops.

I feel someone should teach athletes exactly how social media programs like Twitter work. I don’t mean to lump all athletes into the same category, but it’s increasingly obvious that the majority just don’t get it! In the latest example of incompetence of social media, Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson fizzled after the team terminated his contract. The latest incident in a long string of behavioral issues occurred after Johnson posted a derogatory comment on his Twitter as well as unnecessary criticism of his head coach and reporters earlier this season.

From ESPN:

His [Johnson] last brush with controversy came two weeks ago when he posted on his Twitter account a gay slur, insulted followers and questioned the competence of head coach Todd Haley.

I’m having a hard time trying to grasp what these people don’t understand about sites like Twitter, Facebook or to a greater extent the internet as a whole. Could somebody grab a hold of these guys and let them know that people are reading everything they write? It’s unbelievable.

Not all athletes are guilty, though. For an example of a really great athlete account look no further than Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. The leader of the Seahawks continually keeps fans involved by posting pictures, holding contests for tickets and merchandise and replying to his followers. Early in the season Hasselbeck was hospitalized with cracked ribs during a game in San Francisco. On his twitter account he posted a picture from the hospital with the message, “Going to be alright. Thx to staff at Stanford and Dr. McAdam for snapping this photo.”

Take note athletes! That’s how you use Twitter!

Tweet Out To Seattle

Wondering who's on Twitter in Seattle? Thanks to Monica Guzman from the Seattle PI's Big Blog you don't have to wonder any longer. Monica (@moniguzman) has taken advantage of Twitter's new list feature and has created a list based on the news section of Seattle Twitter Index: http://twitter.com/moniguzman/seattlenews

There is currently a working list being created on thebigblog now of local entities using the popular broadcasting tool. Find anyone from local government officials to Seattle Sport organizations. Go here to check it out: http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/archives/157088.asp

For a working list of all newspaper accounts on Twitter you can go here. 

Dirty Digital Tricks Or Just Satire?

The last presidential election was significant not only for the outcome but also for the use of technology during the campaigns. For the first time, a candidate grasped how important new tools like social networking sites and Twitter were, using them to connect to supporters and focus their collective will. I think you know which candidate I’m talking about. The other OTHER one, however, didn’t do so well (besides the obvious losing-the-election thing). His party’s efforts were haphazard, slipshod and paid little more than lip service to the idea that technology is a fundamental part of how people live today.

It looks like they’ve come around, though. Last week, Twitter shut down 33 bogus accounts using the names of state Democrats. The accounts were created by the state Republican party and were, as Twitter pointed out, a violation of the no-impersonation policy. Chris Healy, Connecticut Republican Chairman, had the following to say when he was told Twitter had closed the accounts:

"That's unfortunate. I'm not quite sure what the issue is, other than that the Democrats were successful in stopping free speech. That's not impersonation; that's satire."

The accounts are completely gone, so there’s no way to see what exactly they were tweeting, but I’m sure it wasn’t good stuff, judging by the content of one of the 33 websites the Republican party in Connecticut also runs using state Democrat names. Those sites are still going strong and there no plans to shutter them.

Is this ethical? Morally upright? I’m not sure (though I’m leaning pretty strongly in a particular direction) but Chris Healy has a firm opinion:

"I really don't care what a bunch of college professors from liberal colleges think."

The Feel Good (Tech) Hit(s) of the Week

Sometimes I worry I might be perceived as all doom and gloom when it comes to these blog posts. I promise I’m not a negative guy (though if I were, would I admit to it?), but the bad stuff is often where the interesting stuff is, so that’s what I’ll tend to write about. BUT NOT THIS WEEK! This week, I’ve got a few good tech stories that might suggest humanity is still worth a damn.

The Lowdown

Washington State currently has a referendum, R-71, in play that if passed, will confirm the expansion of domestic partnership protections like extending public-employee pensions, basic family legal rights and survivor benefits to homosexual couples. This stuff was already signed into law by Governor Gregoire, but that hasn’t prevented a group of people who hate the idea of civil rights applying to everyone from trying to prevent the law from taking effect. In response, they came up with R-71. They went out and gathered (questionably) enough signatures to have the referendum on the ballot for the upcoming elections. If R-71 is passed, the law and its benefits will move forward. Right now, it’s looking like a very close call.

Local Pacific Northwest companies Boeing, Microsoft, Nike, Puget Sound Energy, RealNetworks and Vulcan Development issued a statement of support in September.

The Current Awesomeness

Microsoft threw its hat in the ring and gave $100,000 in support of R-71 and gay rights in Washington. This well eclipses the total amount raised by those opposed, and may be enough to sway the vote, which by current evaluations is dangerously close to not passing.

Microsoft, a company of about 60,000, has a history of supporting gay rights, though they did stumble in 2005 by withdrawing (under pressure from local zealot pastor Ken Hutcherson) and later renewing support for an anti-discrimination law.

From what I could find, the total combined amount contributed by Amazon, Boeing and Starbucks is roughly $0.

The Lowdown

Drew Olanoff has cancer. He also has the @drew twitter account. In an effort to raise money for LIVESTRONG, a cancer awareness and support foundation, he decided to put the account up for auction and donate the proceeds. Drew Carey, former marine (seriously?) and current comedian and game show host, who uses the twitter acount @drewfromtv, bid $100,000 for the account.

The Current Awesomeness

Because he’s that rich and apparently that awesome, Carey promised to donate $1 million if the number of followers to his current account reaches 1 million by the new year. He also said he would pro-rate it, so if he only gets to 500,000 then he would donate $500,000. As of this post, he has around 64,000 followers.

Got room on your Twitter account for one more person to follow?