Most Twitter users have a fairly small audience (less than 100 followers) and still don’t use hashtags to draw people into their conversations. For most, a Twitter rant is not likely going to be picked up and broadcast, but users should be cautious.
There is a new social media editorial focus after Snapchat hit gold with their curated stories feature. Social media are looking for odd stories and new content to curate and feature, and this doesn’t always mean of the celebrity variety. For example, everyday Twitter user stories, rants and Tweet commentary are being picked up more frequently, especially after the launch of Twitter Moments.
In April, I noticed a Tweet from @Twittermoments (the editoral arm of the new curation feature) that informed a Twitter user (@hels) that her Tweets were going to be featured as a Moment. I thought to myself that this seemed like a best practice and was impressed–at least she was notified. But notice that they told her that they were planning to use her Tweets–they did not explicitly ask for permission, which would have been better. What if she was in a place without service and didn’t see this?
Her Tweet acknowledge that she received their notice so I’m assuming that she was ok with being featured.
After seeing the Moment, I was a bit surprised that it was featured by Twitter, and I’m a bit concerns that average users could be celebartized and experience blow back after being amplified by Moments.
This epic part rant moment was filed under “fun” (unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t embed Moments yet):
https://twitter.com/i/moments/724801086733869056
Her Twitter voice and tone is fairly comical to say the least–I do wonder how much sincerity is in the Tweets and if she was actually venting on Twitter. I believe that most people believe there is a grain of truth in these posts or it would not be funny. It’s the credibility of her account (real name and a writer) that legitimizes what she’s posting–this appears to be funny because she dared to say real, bold things, publically.
If this rand was a real rant, being featured in a Moment would lift the statements to a visible state to her friends and colleagues that were referenced (without naming). This all seems risky to me, but is that one of the draws of Twitter as a content creator? Is being risky key to gaining an audience on Twitter? Is risky behavior what social media editors are looking for?
Today, I did something that most people don’t do–I followed up on the Moment to see if there were any updates. The user recently put out a Tweet that alludes that her Twitter moment experience was not positive:
@knguyen @rustyk5 @caseyjohnston hello i have some thoughts about being a twitter moment
— Helen Rosner (@hels) May 5, 2016
@knguyen @rustyk5 @caseyjohnston those thoughts are: do not be one
— Helen Rosner (@hels) May 5, 2016
My question is, what if she said no to being featured in a Moment? Would Twitter have skipped the Moment or would she have needed to pull the posts to avoid being featured?
Did her joke/rant go too far or is this all just fun and games? I’ve pinged her to see if I can gain some insight into her experience. Stay tuned.
