5 Reasons Why Conan O'Brien Loves Twitter

I have enjoyed watching Conan O’Brien on late night Television over the years for his wacky and irreverent sense of humour. He epitomized the hold that mass media has had on us as consumers of all things TV.

Our life has centred around the square box in the corner of the room for nearly 50 years that had us schedule our life according to the time that the networks deemed as important for us to view shows. The ongoing web revolution is threatening to change this business model and Conan O’Briens well documented breakup with NBC could be the start of  a more web centric career for Conan.

This year the poor performing ratings of another of  the networks stars shows, led to Conan being bumped to another time slot that ended up in Conan walking away from a multi-million dollar a year contract due to “differences” .

He was banned legally from broadcasting on

• Television
• Radio
• Internet

Due to his contractual agreements.

Conan has had very little experience with social media and Twitter, so when the drama erupted he was amazed by the groundswell of Internet support by his fans. It also took the TV network by surprise (they thought he was behind it).

So three and a half months after leaving the TV network, Conan  O’Brien met with an audience at Google (and it was subsequently recorded and put on YouTube) after recently having visited Twitter and some other companies in Silicon Valley. S

So what was  he doing? I was curious so I started watching the online video. For the first 15 minutes Conan’s trademark humour had me laughing constantly, and then it became more serious as he started to outline his real life experience with Twitter and social media and its power in booking out his “Comedy Tour” nationally in 2 hours (after one tweet) after his falling out with the network. He then proceeded to provide some insights into his experiences with social media and Twitter up to the 23rd minute mark where his trademark humour cuts in again.

His experience that he outlined after being so legally constrained was that he felt like a prisoner in a 14th Century cell writing little things on paper (Tweets) so he hoped a peasant would come a long and pass on his message. He sent out one little scrap of paper (one Tweet) and it exploded overnight and he booked out his national show in 2 hours.

So what were his thoughts and observations of Twitter, Social Media and mass media network television?

• There have been a lot of people in Mass broadcast television that have been very dismissive of the Internet
• They are also very afraid of it
• They tend to deride what they don’t understand
• They didn’t understand the huge reaction from his followers (Tribe)
• They thought he was behind it
• He didn’t  have to spend a penny on advertising
• It has made a lot of people rethink how things are marketed as he didn’t have to advertise on one billboard and he didn’t have to talk to DJ’s and hawk his show.
• People are starting to understand that the world has completely changed
• 140 characters forces you to crystallize your comedy ideas
• In the future there might not be network televison as we know it

5 Reasons Why Conan O’Brien Loves Twitter?

1. It’s free
2. It works
3. It has given him a new career
4. 140 characters forces you to crystallize your comedy ideas
5. It provides leverage

So why do you love Twitter?