...and I thought AMC was innovative.

When Don Draper started following me on Twitter, I thought it was a brilliant social media play by the Mad Men creators at AMC (or their agency).

His profile has all the markings of an "official" campaign: well-designed background, accurate name, location and bio, and most importantly, a Twitter feed that was truly aligned with the weekly plot updates.

Soon, other characters from the show began following me, and it looked like AMC was developing a series of back stories for the show available only on Twitter (reminiscent of what JJ Abrams did online for LOST). Again, I thought this was brilliant.

But now it seems that AMC has asked Twitter to shut down the feeds because they were created by fans, not the cable company. What?!

This is an incredibly short-sighted move by AMC, and one that makes it clear that they don't understand social media. The fact that fans are interested enough in the show to develop detailed character profiles that are faithful to the original programming is a GOOD thing. The show's ratings have dropped since its second season premiere; you'd think that they'd enjoy - and want to capitalize on - the buzz.

Thankfully, AMC's agency, Deep Focus, was able to talk some sense into them, and the feeds are back up.

Comments

[Stephanie]

I'm afraid so. The good news is that AMC has decided to allow the unofficial Twittering, most of the characters have stayed true to the official narrative, and the Mad Men Twitter community is thriving! See the BusinessWeek write up: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2008/tc2008096_785921.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

[Leigh]

Oh no this can't be true can it? I just wrote a post on Betty Draper following me today! I'm so disappointed.... :(