Oprah sends her first tweet with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, leftHow'd you like to gain 450,000 followers in 26 days without sending a single tweet? I have the secret for you.
Be Oprah.
She had 1,336,827 followers when she sent her last tweet on June 6. Today she has 1,801,684 (and counting). That's the power of Chicago's top Twitter user.
No one else can do that. Oprah is one of the top 5 accounts on Twitter. The others -- Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk), Ellen Degeneres (@theellenshow), Britney Spears (@britneyspears) and CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) -- are known to tweet at least every few days, sometimes several times a day. Other power users do the same.
Never mind major companies, she's a brand in herself. Every minute or so, people are tweeting about Oprah. Every few minutes, she gets an @ reply.
But she doesn't have to interact, she doesn't have to follow back (she follows 14 people), she doesn't have to do anything. She's the exception to every Twitter rule in the book. Naturally, she can break those rules because of who she is.
She's sent a total of 51 tweets since she talked about Twitter with co-founder Evan Williams on April 17. She sent five tweets in June - that's right, 5.
Just three days after that show, the "Oprah effect" was clear. TechCrunch said she helped Twitter recruit between 500,000 and 1.5 million new users.
Her last tweet on June 6: "Today went to see Phylicia Rashad in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. It too was outstanding. Makes me crave BROADWAY!!"
Many local Twitterers said today they're disappointed by the lack of tweets.
schmogel Oprah fails. Missing an opportunity with 2 million followers and zero tweets. At least 50% are probably real people.
Sweetter @redeyechicago Only recourse is to unfollow her right?
jarends interesting... RT @redeyechicago Just who in the world does she think she is using Twitter like that? Oh. Of course. Oprah http://ow.ly/goRC
cuki_doh Oprah sent only 5 tweets in June but still manages to have the top Twitter account in Chicago. RT RedEyeChicago:http://ow.ly/goRC
mihoriel @redeyechicago Although I am a fan of Oprah -just the show & book series-, she doesn't really tweet so there is no point in following her.
When will she tweet next? Twitterers anxiously await to see what July has in store for @oprah.
10 Comments
Alicia Eler said:
Wow, I dont know any celebs who do this! Most just don't follow back, but to not tweet at all?!
Craig Kanalley said:
Isn't it astounding, Alicia? But then again, Oprah's Oprah.
Alicia Eler said:
You're right, Oprah's Oprah. I guess she can do what ever she wants. I'm also interested in the phenomenon of celebrities not following people back, kind of like this local celeb Karyn Calabrese who runs Karyn's Raw Restaurant and Karyn's Cooked. She's a star in the raw food world, a movement that believes you get the most nutritional value out of non-cooked, non-processed food. Check out her Twitter page: http://twitter.com/karynsenlight
Personally I don't think she's a big enough local celeb to not follow people back. What's your take on this?
Craig Kanalley said:
Yeah, Alicia, I agree with you - not big enough to not follow people back. My view is that part of Twitter is following back and allowing for a real sense of connectivity/interaction. For instance, private messages can only be sent when someone is following you back.
I guess the huge celebs can just use Twitter as a way to post updates, not follow back, and that's fine. But someone like Karyn Calabrese, yeah, she should be following back IMO.
Mark Aaron Murnahan said:
I think it is quite an amazing instance of celebrity. I believe that perhaps Ashton Kutcher was right when he suggested that she reach me for some help (Ref: http://twitter.com/aplusk/status/1563748698). Maybe she will read my upcoming book. ;-)
Most people who complain about how somebody uses Twitter are jealous for one reason or another. My suspicion is that Oprah has a lot going on to keep her busy.
Craig Kanalley said:
Mark, Ashton was on to something... You may be on to something with the jealousy part, that makes sense, but at the same time - can't she have a staffer do this for her? At least reply to her fans? Kind of mind-boggling.
Shari Weiss said:
I wish some celeb, maybe Kutcher, would call her out on it. Would make things a lot more interesting. And maybe put her in her place.
Craig Kanalley said:
Shari, this was close to that - http://twitter.com/aplusk/status/1563748698. But yeah, totally should. I agree.
qroper said:
Oprah is lame. If you watch the episode you could tell how turned off she was by the whole idea of twitter. I'm starting to think she is running out talkshow topics and is near retirement. I'm not sure if I can take anymore Dr. Oz specials or remakes of things I see on 20/20...
Craig Kanalley said:
Yeah, I remember the show and it's too bad she didn't spend more time on it; it was only a segment. She didn't see overly enthused about Twitter.
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