Why We’ll Watch Oprah, But Not Follow Oprah Posted on April 21, 2009 1 Comments

Oprah reaches an estimated 23 million viewers a week across the globe. As of 10:35 p.m., Monday, April 20, she’d amassed 420,265 followers. That’s an amazing number given the fact that she tweeted her first tweet just three days earlier. However, at the same time, she’s also succeeded in amassing a growing backlash against her presence—and that of other celebrities—on Twitter. Tags have popped up such as #blameoprah, #unfollowoprah, and #herebeforeoprah encouraging others to de-friend the television maven. Tweets are flying left and right blaming Oprah for everything from slowing down the system, to ruining the “cool factor,” to bringing on the demise of Twitter. That leaves me wondering…why will we watch Oprah, but not follow Oprah?

Twitter is an opt-in society. That means you decide if you want to join in and with whom you want to engage. And while many tweets are simply passing links, quotes, and tidbits of information, there is a good deal of personal interaction that goes on as well. You begin to develop relationships—albeit relationships as deep as 140 characters—with your followers. It seems in Twitter, as in life, relationships matter.

Which explains the emerging “twetiquette” to reciprocate a follow, meaning (in general) if someone follows you, you follow back. Not reciprocating a follow is not only considered bad form, but also bad manners. If you don’t follow back, it’s likely your followers will lose interest and unfollow you. And I believe, therein lies the problem.

While Oprah has over 420,000 followers, she is following just 10 people. So in essence, she is simply broadcasting through Twitter. However, Twitter is not a traditional media outlet—it’s a social media outlet. People enjoy and expect interaction with one another. Without that interaction, it is no different than any other one-way broadcast medium. But that’s not what it is.

True, Oprah may be on Twitter, but she’s not in it. And as such, she’s missing the point of what it’s really about.