impoverished artifices

Got this link through the SmartBrief on Social Media email to which I subscribe...

ABC is using twitter to keep the narrative for Castle, their mid-season murder mystery about a writer and a detective, going during the summer tv hiatus. I haven't watched the show, as I thought the promos looked terrible like a bad pseudo-USA Network quirky crimedy [crime + comedy], but it's interesting to see corporate/mainstream appropriation of twitter for a narrative space.

Full text below

ABC turns to Twitter to keep 'Castle' viewers interested during hiatus
Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Two years ago, I blogged that popular USA summer series Burn Notice should start using Twitter to build interest in the show. My thinking was that USA could create an account that would let lead character Michael Westin keep followers up to date on his quest to figure out who burned him. If smartly done, USA could give diehard fans a way to learn more about the plot, without penalizing viewers that didn't follow Westin on Twitter.

Burn Notice hasn't yet taken my advice, but it seems ABC has for the show Castle. ABC has created an account for the central character, Richard Castle, and Castle twitters his progress in investigating and solving the murder mystery that's central to the show's plot.

And the move is being used to keep viewers entertained and engaged as the show is currently on its summer hiatus, with the second season starting in September.

This is brilliant, and the first time I've seen a show use Twitter to actually expand on the actual plot and story (guys? Has this been done before? If so, who did it?). I love this, and think leveraging social media in such a way holds enormous potential for television shows. Hopefully we'll see more of this moving forward.

Oh and USA, I'd still love to see Burn Notice using Twitter, email me if you decide to get started.

UPDATE: Lindsay Allen has pointed out that Burn Notice IS on Twitter. That's not bad, but I'd still like to see them doing some in-character tweeting as ABC is with Castle.