Death Tweet 08 - experimental storytelling

September 9th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Last week Matt F’n Wallace asked me to take part in some experimental Twitter storytelling. I was just mad I hadn’t thought of it first. So Matt, JC Hutchins, and Anne and Rick Stringer got on Twitter on Saturday afternoon and began telling a story of Matt’s epic battle against river otters and a giant squid, among others. Hutch and I reported from ringside and many of our Twitter followers got on board, tweeting as audience participants.

It was really interesting. On the level of experimental storytelling, it was fun seeing how it became a collaborative effort of not only those of us behind the scenes, but also the audience and how they interacted with us and each other. Also, it was an obvious statement that everyone has their own personal view of how Twitter should be used, and if you use it otherwise, they get pissed.

(Really people. If you don’t have unlimited texting and you have twitter send updates to your phone, you are asking for trouble. I never signed an agreement to keep my tweets to a certain level, so don’t blame me when you get a big bill…)

I’m not saying it’s bad that many people think Twitter should be used in ways differently than I use it. I have my own strong rules as to what will make me unfollow people (from TMI like bathroom or sex details, to petty things like posting a very long string of characters that throws off my entire twitter page table). I have also been trying to trim my list of people I’m following, as I’m missing a lot of what people I *do* know are saying. It’s nothing personal, but if I don’t know you chances are good you’ll get cut.

No, I’m just saying that it’s a tool with many, many uses, and you should not expect everyone to use it the way you do. I lost a number of followers during Death Tweet, but it was worth it because I was using Twitter in an experimental way that was a lot of fun.

If you missed out, or you only followed me and had no idea what was going on, Rich Sigfrit and Susan Z worked together to make the Death Tweet 08 page with transcripts and even utterly awesome “Not Mur Lafferty” and “Not JC Hutchins” audio recreations of the match. (Matt F’n Wallace played himself, natch.)

There Are 10 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Nycteris on 9 September 2008:

    Holy cow! That is so fun! More power to you!

  2. Comment by Lisa Creech Bledsoe on 9 September 2008:

    Funny! Sorry you got so seriously unfollowed. Also, I kinda enjoyed the upside-down whale on the top of your pdf… Super Fail Whale! Keep on experimenting.

  3. Comment by Jason R on 9 September 2008:

    I missed seeing it live, unfortunately, but I read the transcript and laughed my posterior regions off. Seriously, they’re on the floor beside my desk now. One vital question was left unanswered, though: was there leftover pie?

    Also, out of curiosity, if I send an @reply to someone on twitter, and they’re not subscribed to me, do they see it?

  4. Comment by Rosengeranium (Indoor Gardener) on 9 September 2008:

    I followed Deathtweet through your feed only; it didn’t occur to me that I perhaps should add Matt F’n Wallace etc. to the my feed too (I’m new to twitter and lurks most of the time to work out the tweet culture). Still I found it very funny, and an eyeopener; Twitter can be used as a cowriting tool for a group of writers in a way that is pretty hard to match. The form seemed to release massive creativity to make a story that broke for nothing.

  5. Comment by Scott Gallatin on 9 September 2008:

    I have you, JC, and a couple others who were doing death tweet. The only thing that tweeked my nose was that all the other tweets I follow got blown off what I was allowed to go back and view. At one point my page was nothing but death tweets.

    But your book showed up the day before so I just gave up on twitter and read.

  6. Comment by Lea Anne Locke on 9 September 2008:

    How can we read the transcript???? I’d like to see this!!

  7. Comment by Comic Book Goddess (Kim) on 9 September 2008:

    It was a BLAST, Mur. I’m a relatively new Twitter user, and I actually gained a ton of new Tweet Buddies from it. :)

  8. Comment by Podcasting's Rich Sigfrit on 10 September 2008:

    If you are interested in hearing the interviews (pre and post fight), an audio dramatization of the battle, and the pdf transcript, visit http://www.outcastmultimedia.com/deathtweet.

  9. Comment by Anna on 21 September 2008:

    I unfollowed those participating in the event simply because it prevented me from keeping track of the rest of my tweeps. However, it wasn’t permanent and as soon as the event ended, I re-followed everyone. I like that you were able to use this tool in a different way, but I’m also happy that I was able to adjust as needed.

    Oh, and for what it’s worth, I stop following people who regularly flood my tweep stream. In my losing-all-pretense-of-humility opinion, if 140 characters is too limiting for your thoughts, perhaps FriendFeed is a better venue?

  10. Pingback by I Should Be Writing 2.0 » Blog Archive » Holly Lisle Giveaway! on 3 October 2008:

    [...] on 9/29, and by 10/2 she had the most brilliant way to use twitter to get new followers since Death Tweet 08. Holly’s Birthday is in October, and she’s using the celebration to give away ebooks. [...]

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