How corporate social media (mostly) moved past its awkward phase and connected with audiences.
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Every month now,a notable brand goes viral for tweeting somethingprovocative,absurd, orentertaining.
Four months later, its in some marketers PowerPoint about #engagement and #authenticity.
In the beginning, Brand Twitter lagged behind internet culture.
It was known most for its fails and ethical gray areas.
But as marketers started hiring people who were Extremely Online, it caught up.
Tweets became more self-aware and ironic, which led to increased visibility as well as criticism.
(As the writer behind onebrand account, Iveexperiencedboth.)
Which, in turn, led to more fails and ethical gray areas.
Here, we bring you the definitive history and evolution of Brand Twitter.
This is now an artifact of Brand Twitter history.
Aside from the Chargers, most prominent brands didnt join Twitter until 2009.
As YouTuberJarvis Johnsonpointed out, other brands immediately personified themselves:
Gonna watch a little college basketball.
I’m told I’m kind of an expert on buckets.
Devouring a Supreme Personal Pan as motivation for my first tweet.
If you were a brand on Twitter, you were likely known for making a misstep.Morenotable failscontinued into 2011.
Whos #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?
The peak fail of 2011 revolved around the Arab Spring, when the Egyptian governmentshut down the internet.
The story trended, andKenneth Coleopportunistically jumped in: Million are in uproar in #Cairo.
Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online athttp://bit.ly/KCairo- KC.
Later that year, a new trend emerged: the viral clapback.
The first came from Sega, which responded to YouTuberJustin Whangs old handle @HotPikachuSex.
@HotPikachuSexWhat I wouldn’t give to have not read your user name.
Why is it that “fire sauce” isn’t made with any real fire?
Seems like false advertising.
@OldSpiceIs your deodorant made with really old spices?
This trend continued with brands likeCharminandAMC Theatres, while others continuedembarrassing themselves.
Brand Twitter seemed so ridiculous, goofy, and easy to dismiss back then until Dennys showed up.
@JayFeliipeAre you really in a position to be turning girls away?
And whats a year in Brand Twitter without mistakes?
In August, ther/FellowKidssubreddit became a hub to ridicule brands trying to be cool.
(Apparently, none had learned fromAT&Ts disastrous tweetthe year before.)
Users universally piled on, and word spread across the web.
9+11 = 20% off!
“It’s the anniversary of 9/11…
It is straight-up someone’s job to make a sandwich shop seem more likeable.
People used to be blacksmiths.pic.twitter.com/4vrwhZ3nC4
The spotlight was getting hotter, and missteps were gettingmore consequential.
This gave it clout amongniche audiencesthat has continued to this day with its#MakeMySandwichcampaign.
Its dangerous to go alone!
Take this.pic.twitter.com/4I0j8AH5Pr
The tradition of mocking brands on social media continued.
My perspective is Hi.
The person in charge of the Arbys account.
I no longer care, the man behind the account,Brendan Kelly, tells Vulture.
Im proving that, tweet by tweet.
And Im still fulfilling my duties as a corporate shill on Twitter.
So fuck itEat arbys.
In April 2016, Hamburger Helper …dropped a mixtape.
All of them went viral.
The mixtape drops now.
Excedrins debate headache tweets were a fairly neutral way to cut through the noise.
The possibility of a#DebateHeadacheis high.
Dictionary.com hit asimilar stride.
Thistrendcontinues today, with more brands being bolder in their political stands.
Shortly after, corporate brands discovered they could do the same.
It was the dawn of self-aware Brand Twitter.
The exchange exploded.Anderson Coopereven covered it on CNN.
The roast-meister wasAmy Brown, who left Wendys in March, partly owing to online harassment.
Later that month, Wendys wentviral againby roasting McDonalds.
@McDonaldsSo youll still use frozen beef in MOST of your burgers in ALL of your restaurants?
Asking for a friend.
Then again in November.
This became a recurring pastime.
Wendys replied, 18 Million.
The Wendys social-media team even hosted anAMAon Reddit in December to cap the year.
Yes@Tmobile, we’re into BDSM.
Bigger coverage map, Devastating Speed, and Massive capacity.
Another brand that caught its stride later in the year was Netflix.
Netflix is an anomaly for Brand Twitter.
It gets boosted bycelebrity influencerswho work with it as well as otherpopular accounts.
Family-owned snack company MoonPie marked another evolution in Brand Twitter.
(MoonPie also opened a new can of worms byflirtingwith Wendys andbest-friendingPop-Tarts.)
Over the year, MoonPiewas written aboutmore than almost any other brand.
arguesPatrick Wells, the creativecopywriter behind MoonPies Twitter voice.
The entire landscape was changing, and by 2018, this humanization became the norm.
Theyve created an entire industry with no protections for the workers within it.
Some brands, like Flex Seal, were evenwelcomed.
Many of the top posts went fromthis brand-posted cringetothis brand actually gets it.
One account that stood out as exceptionally meta wasdbrand, a skin company that the meme communityembraced.
It fired back with thisdeep-friedrendition, mocking a style found in places like 4chan orr/DankMemes.
He asked for free wings; Pluckers blocked him.
The brands response was*chefs kiss.
While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.
A barrage ofmemesridiculing the move followed; brands joined in, includingNetflix,Wendys, andWhataburger.
For 60 pancakin years, weve been IHOP.
Now, were flippin our name to IHOb.
On the flip side, some companies formedonline relationshipswith content creators when they shared their formats with consent.
They also began frequenting comedic material that was unrelated to their brand.
The Buffalo Wild Wings account got hacked in June, postingvulgar, racist tweets.
The Air Forcecompared air strikes in Afghanistan to the Yanny and Laurel meme.
But most major controversies now centered on brands being(or not being) woke.
It resulted in aratioso badeven vegans hated it.
Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it.
The observations were bothapplaudedandcriticizedfor being covert advertising.
This flagged another shift brands making metacommentary asanti-marketing.
why are so many young people flocking to brands on social media for love, guidance, and attention?
I’ll tell you why.
When a brand is entertaining or relatable, it opens the door toparasocial relationships, a.k.a.
people viewing media personalities as friends.
Brendan Kelly, the man behind Nihilist Arbys, finds the trend troubling.Its the evolution of the matrix.
Thats the way social media is going, he says.
They dont love you.
I would like to repeat that:They dont love you.
Critics also argue that this behavior can stifle criticism of brands.
Early days were all about features/benefits, then endorsements, then comedy, then genuineness, now absurdness.
When brands all start sounding the same, it means were on the verge of the next step.
During the Super Bowl, its account published this in reaction to how boring it was.
it’s ok to#feelyourwaypic.twitter.com/JiMDnzWCaI
In the aftermath of all this,Silence, Brandmemes surged.
Hello, fellow brands.
Are your followers picking on you?Don’t worry.
Just when you thoughtWhat could possibly come next?,Vita Coco went where no brand had gone before.
Address?pic.twitter.com/sQ7Mxrdj9f
Users responded with shock … andrespect.
So who knows whats next?
The internet is now anattention economy.
Advertising is designed to misinform and blend in with culture.No one is immune.
