Microblogging to your Fans

 The British number 1 tennis player and finalist in the recent US Open is on Twitter.  He’s been up there for a month and as of today’s date he has just over 400 followers.  This will rise dramatically.   What is interesting, is not just that we can tune in to a leading sporting figure as he prepares for a major match,  Andy ate pasta and played Scrabble the night before the Open final, but that fans get to hear directly from their hero, with no-one in between.  In the worlds of music, sport and entertainment that’s gold.   

I can’t be certain that Andy is posting himself but every comment has the ring of total authenticity and the first person he followed was his brother Jamie which makes me confident this is the genuine article.  No doubt a PR person or someone else in his entourage suggested it and has advised on it, but the fact that it is real and direct is what makes it work.  There are other celebrities on Twitter but I think Andy is blazing a trail.  The former lead singer of Black Flag and post punk poet Henry Rollins is up there too.  He announced his arrival on January 22nd 2007 with the words “I hate everbody“.  Since then with just 75 ‘tweets’ he has gained 11,785 followers.  There are musicians (or more probably their associaties) who are using it as a promotional tool but Andy and Henry are telling it as it is.  

Stand by for a rush to join the new ’Twitterati’.It won’t be long before we have a flood of singers, sporting heroes and stars of the screen, sharing stuff on the microblog of the moment.  Mark Borkowski will have to add it to the next edition of his book The Fame Formula.   The ones like Andy, who don’t try too hard, keep it interesting and avoid the hard sell will turn followers into ardent fans. Advantage Murray.