Twhat up tweeps? Are you sick of those hipster twicksters making up their own twords whenever they reference anything to do with Twitter?
Twexting. Tweeting up. Tweethearts. Twoublemakers. Twublicity… the “tw” craze took the online jargon world by storm in 2009 and like a rollicking mexican wave rolling around the Gabba cricket ground at a 20-20, we’d like to play our part in pushing the misuse of language along in 2010.
So in the spirit of making up new words, attention-seeking behaviour and experimentation… we bring you our new ‘Twebsite‘.
With the upcoming launch of the shiny new BCM website just around the corner, we’ve created an interim Twitter-based website to give users a sneak preview of the new site’s design and content.
Created partly as a demonstration of how social media platforms can seamlessly link together, and partly because we like playing buzzword bingo, our new Twebsite has certainly thrown the tongue-in-cheek cat amongst the industry pigeons.
Some of our favourite comments so far include…
From here on out, anyone who creates a word with the prefix “tw-” in the hopes of being seen as cutting edge gets a courtesy dose of herpes. – likeomg
Every time I hear ‘Twebsite’ I throw up a little in my mouth. I hope to one day throw up in the mouth of whoever at BCM came up with it. – Warlach
There is a new word out there “twebsite” – a website that uses multiple Twitter pages to form a website – Mikjryan
You’re right: twetarded! RT@the_enthusiast: Oh man, I just lost my temper on Mumbrella. Some companies are twucked. – dalecampisi
RT @mumbrella: Agency claims 1st ‘Twebsite’ “harvest the functionality of social media platforms” #wordsdouchebagssay – acatinatree
Word of the day : Twebsite….not a bad idea for a placeholder website. – siddarthdas
I don’t understand agencies that have social media gimmicks on their website – what do they think this is supposed to demonstrate? Are these the same agencies agencies that had podcasts 5 years ago? Or geocities sites 10 years ago? Or hypercolour promo t’s 20 years ago? – Larry
To all of you, thanks for caring and taking the time out of your busy lives to comment. We hope you don’t take it too seriously.
And despite the expected brouhaha over the name, we’re really pleased with how it has turned out as a short-term placeholder. The Twebsite will remain live until our brand spankin’ new agency site launches in a few week’s time.
Now off to pick up our hypercolour promo t-shirts from the printers… and apologies in advance to our copywriters for my crimes against the written word.
Scott Esdaile is BCM’s Social Media Manager
Twemendous post, Scott.
Now, I am no doubt a little biased (I head up the interactive team here at BCM) but I stand proud behind a concept that I genuinely believe to be an online first. There may be other examples of sites that use multiple social media platforms to emulate a website, but I am yet to see another example that uses Twitter accounts as discrete pages.
… and you know what, I actually think it does a good job. It definitely got noticed and now the greater community knows about our upcoming site launch.
Mission accomplished.
For the record, I haven’t taken issue with the website, more with the name. Had the initial release from you guys framed the ‘Twebsite’ in the way you have above I wouldn’t have minded. Instead we got:
“Agency partner, Kevin Moreland, said: “We want to demonstrate to existing and potential clients, that the interlinked and versatile nature of these social media platforms can create exciting new opportunities for their brands, and that communication across these platforms can be seamless.””
I’m actually pretty impressed with the layout of the interlinked Twitter pages, and while it’s not entirely original it is, yes, the first example of doing this exact layout. And yes, it did get attention, so that worked.
So, congratulations to you guys on the bits that worked, just maybe a little less spin in the press release if you guys were actually going for a “tongue in cheek” name.
Twexcellent twopic.
nice post rationalization of the name, however the press release and this post seem at opposite ends of the spectrum.
If the saying “all press is good press” is something you agree with then congrats.
We now know about the upcoming new site which I hope has another world first so you get the press coverage. But the fact I had never heard of you guys before is another victory as you got your name out there too.
cheers
mrTWuffle
To me this did a great job at promoting content and a new site. While it might not have been a world first, it still is a creative idea and I love it!