Characters that Twitter and Blog
February 10, 2009 by Michael Durwin
Filed under Featured, Social Media
As more brands are sinking their teeth into social media, I’ve begun to see more fictional characters appear as well. There are a few very obvious character blogs, but most of the social network characters I’ve seen are in Twitter.
Disclaimer: I ran the Robinson Crusoe Twitter for NBC and am running the KaBloom brand Twitter.
The most prolific and indeed benchmarks have been the Mad Men Twitterers. I’m fortunate enough to talk with their puppet masters daily so I have some behind the scenes info, but I’ve been following them since they began some time ago. If you’d like to learn more about the Mad Men Twitterers click here.
Most character Twitters, at least the effective ones have been controlled by fans. There’s good reason for this. Fans that are already in social media are much more knowledgeable of the technology and the use of the social network than brands, in this case entertainment, are. I’ve seen some absolute duds as far as character Twitters go. Shows often choose the wrong characters to Tweet. Or they don’t follow the main purpose of Twitter: CONVERSATION. In other words, they don’t Follow anyone back or engage with them. No surprise here, many brands are having a difficult time engaging in social media themselves, or loosening up on the reigns with their marketing teams. So fans have stepped in and in most cases done amazing jobs as puppet masters to these characters. They stay in character, reference past shows, in some cases even develop the characters beyond the show, making up background info or expanding on it. Shows that attempt to shut down fan Twitter accounts would be foolish, as it gives fans another way to interact with the show universe. If shows decide to take over accounts or work with fans to leverage this outlet it’s a win-win situation. Currently there are a few people getting companies together to be Twitter voices for fictional characters. I’d spill the beans here but there will be plenty of press about it this week. I’ll link to it from this post.
Here is a list of some of the shows and their Twitter characters. I’ll be updating this list as I track down additional fictional characters on Twitter. If anyone has additional characters they’d like to point me to I’ll be more than happy to add them.
Mad Men
- Don Draper
- Peggy Olson
- Roger Sterling
- Pete Campbell
- Joan Holloway
- Paul Kinsey
- Sal Romano
- Bertram Cooper
- Bobbie Barrett
- Betty Draper
- Francine Hanson
- Sally Draper
True Blood
- Sookie Stackhouse
- Eric Northman
- Merlotte’s Bar
- JessicaHamby
- DeantheCollie
- KitchenBitch
- VampireBill
- Pam_atFangtasia
Knight Rider
- KITT – this was active for awhile but I haven’t been able to find the account. Anyone?
Crusoe
Eureka
Chuck
Days of Our Lives
24
Don’t forget the boys from 24: @j_bauer, @tony_almeida, and @agenthotpants. And as far as the rest of the True Blood guys go: @JessicaHamby, @DeantheCollie. Rest of the folks from Bon Temps are from the books.
Take care. . .
Ahh, good ones. Is @agenthotpants a character from the show though? I lost track a couple of seasons back.
Don’t forget another sassy black azz… @darthvader there is a whole galaxy far far away….thank god my cam feed reaches it.
I don’t think I can include @darthvader. He may be using the name but he’s not Tweeting in character. I’m keeping the list to character Twitters, not character name Twitters. The folks at Mad Men, True Blood, 24, even Eureka are staying in character. But @darthvader’s mere mention of Kristin Bell would exclude him from the list. I don’t remember her being captured on the Senator’s blockade runner.
@homerjsimpson is always in character and apparently really popular! =)
You totally forgot True Blood’s @VampireBill and @Pam_atFangtasia !!
Thanks so much for the mention! I do hope they don’t shut us down though.
Better not forget my ‘daddy’ – @VampireBill (Bill Compton).
There are a bunch of characters on Twitter from LOST. I think they’re unofficial – but not sure.
stop spamming me