The Tea Makers

Or: A tale of two Twits

How the NFB uses “social media”:

Why does the NFB use social media?

We just want people to know about our films.

What is our social-media strategy?

Not so much of a “strategy,” really. We just talk about films through four channels: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs. Of course we talk about our films – but we also talk about other people’s films whenever we can. (Nothing’s more annoying that someone who only talks about themselves).

How’s it going so far?

[7,000 followers on Twitter, 16,000 YouTube subscribers, 2,000 Facebook fans]

How the CBC uses social media:

• A vice-president issues ominous warnings that unapproved peons are running off at the mouth, with an implicit threat she’ll put a stop to that someday. (Then get promoted.)
• Corporate-tool blogger, proving along the way it is possible to blog worse in full health than a man battling several serious illnesses, warns you’ve “got to organized and follow a set of guidelines” that don’t exist yet and would in any event be custom-engineered to crush this new life in its cradle.