The Twitter Bowl

(click for larger image)

I'm not making any predictions about the big game tomorrow except two, which have nothing to do with the game itself:

1. The Ad industry will prove it can still get us talking (for better or worse)
2. Much of that conversation will get documented in real time on social applications such as Twitter

That's right, along with the Ad industry—Twitter will once again display it's uncanny ability to seize the momentum of an event and act as a conversation ecosystem.  Remember, this isn't mass communication, it's niche communication.  It's less important that there are millions of conversations going on about both the game and the Ads—what's important is that for thousands of people, their behavior has been altered.  Instead of passively sitting in front of a TV cheering on the game or laughing at the Ads, many of us will actively be tapping away at mobile devices—texting away and connecting with people from all over the globe. 

This isn't a good or bad thing—it's just a reflection of how some of us act (and how most teens behave BTW).  Do yourself a favor, as you are watching the game tomorrow (or just pretending to watch).  Look at the people around the room.  How many of them will be fiddling with some kind of mobile device?  Yeah—phone calls count too.  Point is that tomorrow will most likely be an interesting case study for partial attention.  One eye on the game, another on conversations in the room and for some, yet another on remote conversations.

I'll be in all three modes—using Twitter to document my reactions to the advertisements.  How can you resist?  It's the one time of year where Ads are the most over the top.  You can follow me at Twitter here.

And if you're curious about what folks are saying about the Ads in real time—check out Superbowl Ads on Twitter, the brainchild of Jeremiah Owyang.

See you in the ecosystem.

Comments

[Duane Brown]

Hey David

A great about Twitter with links to some other Twitter related posts. I always find your visual graphs/pictures helpful in explaining your idea.

Jeremiah Owyang at Forrester Research is trying to organize a Twitter event about people's thought on the Super Bowl ads.

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/02/02/hey-armchair-critics-rate-the-superbowl-ads-this-sunday-using-twitter/

The ads at the Super Bowl are entertaining, if nothing else.

[Duane Brown]

P.S. Didn't see the last line in your post for some reason... so we can ignore my link. Great post still.

[Mark McGuinness]

Timely post for me, as I 'converted' to Twitter today. That graphic is v helpful in helping me get my head round it.

If Twitter could convert me to American football that would be even more impressive. :-)

[~bc]

My SuperBowl prediction for Twitter: 1.) Lot's of people will use it to post messages. Until 2.) Twitter goes down with technical difficulties. Anyone up to wager?

[Scott McArthur]

I'm still not sure about twitter. I know it is popular but it all seems so frivelous to me that I can't get why I should spend time on it.

I've got an open mind and will continue with it and see what happens!

[smojo]

I can't wager against you Mark you are taking the sure bet. Twitter does not do well during national events. We have all seen it go down during heavy use times. Hopefully tomorrow it will just slow down a little bit and not go down.
I am looking forward to everyones reactions to the game and more importantly people's tweets about the commercials.

[Holycow]

David hi - I have started using it recently and have really enjoyed the connectedness - no different to sending and receiving texts - but - what I love is the random nature of the information coming through from the blogeratti here in London. I get new and interesting stuff to play wtih and I genuinely feel part of something bigger - more community based. Love the Twitter diagram - as always - fantastic blog - keep it up

M

[Dan Schawbel]

For people like me that have no interest in football and a lot of interest on creative ads, I'd be more than inclined to join the conversation.

[Kate Zimmermann]

hey - we're twittering the super bowl too (but looking specifically at how well advertisers integrate online and offline ads ...

twitter.com/scorecard

[Josh Bernoff]

We scored Jeremiah's twitter experiment to see which ads the twitterati liked best:

http://blogs.forrester.com/charleneli/2008/02/analyzing-the-t.html