And the Oscar for Best Tweet...From Snarky Commentary to Network Strategy, a Social-Media Guide to Awards Night

By Katherine Rosman and Rachel Dodes

Witha slate of small, arty movie

nominees and a retro host withoutmuch buzz, this year's Academy

Awards broadcast may not set any televi-sion ratings records. But it's poised for ashot at another title: It could be the biggestnight yet for social media.

The awards show is working hard topump up its social-media clout as it tries toleverage a growing phenomenon: More andmore viewers are supplementing the experi-ence of merely watching their favorite TVshows by joining in simultaneous runningcommentaries on Twitter and Facebook.

U.S. TV network ABC, which will broad-cast the awards Sunday, will have two peo-ple tweeting about what is happening back-stage, including Shira Lazar, a web-broadcast personality. The red-carpet hostswill be asking celebrities questions thatviewers have posted to Twitter. Thirteencameras will be stationed in the red-carpet

area and the theater, including one at thelobby bar and a backstage "Thank You Cam-era" where winners can extend their accep-tance speeches. Video from these cameraswon't be part of the TV broadcast, but willbe streamed via ABC's website and free mo-bile app. A Twitter feed will let followersknow in real-time who is appearing onwhich camera. The idea is to give peoplemore access to live celebrity footage thatthey can chat about online.

During the broadcast, viewer tweets usingthe hashtags "#oscars," "#oscarbuzz" and"#celebratethemovies" will appear on thenetwork's Oscar home page and on its Acad-

emy Awards app. Karin Gilford, ABC's seniorvice president of digital media, says an out-side company has been hired to monitor thetweets that will stream onto ABC's site, toweed out spam and offensive content.

Even snarky comments from viewers canbe used to the network's benefit. "If every-one is going crazy about one event or mo-ment of the telecast, we know what video

clips to post to the site," Ms. Gilford says.Last year during the telecast, tweeters

took to the web to discuss Oscar co-hostJames Franco dazed and uncommandingcomportment. Joy Behar, the co-host of TheView, tweeted about Mr. Franco and his co-host Anne Hathaway: "I'm surprised AnneHathaway didn't get a hernia from carryingJames Franco all night. #Oscars."

Last year's Oscar broadcast had 966,000social-media comments, and overall, thesocial-media Oscar chatter was positive,according to Bluefin Labs, a social-mediaanalytics company. During the Oscar tele-cast, 87% of all social-media commentswere about the Academy Awards, and thethird most frequently used term was"love" (after "#oscars" and "Oscars")."Dress" was fifth. The vast majority of

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I'd Like to Thank My Twitter Followers...

measurable "social media mentions" areculled from Twitter because, unlike Face-book status updates, which often are visi-ble only to a user's friends, most tweetsare publicly posted.

Other big TV events have seen hugejumps in social-media activity lately. TheGrammy Awards racked up 13 million so-cial-media comments during the broadcast,up 2280% from last year, according to Blue-fin Labs. (The show also had a surge in TVviewers, in part due to the death of Whit-ney Houston the day before the awards.)

Media executives say they don't yet havethe data to directly measure the correlationbetween volume of social media mentionsand actual viewership ratings. "But we doknow that social media drives engagementand can help sustain viewers' interest inwhat they're watching," says Albert Cheng,executive vice president for digital media ofthe Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC.

For this year's Oscars, Twitter has linedup a group of TV and music personalities totweet throughout the ceremony, including"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria,"American Idol" host Randy Jackson andcomedian Whitney Cummings, the star ofNBC's "Whitney."

Suzy Soro, a blogger and comedian inLos Angeles, will live-tweet the Oscars fromher feed @hotcomestodie. She says she ap-preciates the way that Twitter can level theplaying field on a night when Hollywoodcelebrates its glamorous A-list. "It all goesback to Andy Warhol," Ms. Soro says,"when you live tweet, you're on stage too."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts andScience, which presents the awards, has aFacebook application that lets users pickwhich films and actors they expect to win.Much of the social-media planning is beingoverseen by Josh Spector, the Academy'smanaging director of digital media andmarketing— a position created this summer.

Even the after-show party-scene glam-our will be socially leveraged. MagazineVanity Fair, which famously throws an Os-car party each year, will have a staffertweeting from the party, and video footageof the celebration will go online nearly inreal-time, says Chris Rovzar, Vanity Fair'sdigital editor.

He says the videos and tweeting will letreaders experience the party without totallycompromising the privacy of the A-listguest list. "It's a delicate balance of lettingpeople know what is going on and notspoiling anybody's fun," he says.

Celebrity Tweeting

When the Academy announced the Oscarnominees last month, actor Albert Brooks,reacted on Twitter— not because he hadbeen named a best supporting actor con-tender for "Drive," as many had expected,but because he hadn't.

"I got ROBBED. I don't mean the Oscars,I mean literally. My pants and shoes havebeen stolen," the 64-year-old actor wroteon the social-networking site. Later thatday, he weighed in again: "And to the Acad-emy: You don't like me. You really don't likeme," he tweeted, inverting Sally Field's fa-mous 1985 best-actress speech.

Mr. Brooks, who initially signed up forthe social-networking service last May topromote his first novel, sends out missivesalmost every day on a variety of topics,ranging from windstorms in Los Angeles tothe Republican presidential race. He hypeshis work sparingly, if at all. Because he's insuch frequent communication with his233,000 followers, Mr. Brooks says hethought it would be "pretty weird" if he re-mained silent after getting snubbed by theAcademy. "If you say nothing, it's like:Where are you? Did you die?" he says.

On Twitter, self-deprecation is in andself -promotion is out, for the best tweeters,anyway. Singled out here is a selection ofsome worth following, in many fields— fromfood to comedy, fashion to music. Twitter'shighest-profile practitioners are increas-

ingly using the free service not so much asan overt marketing tool but as a convenientway to explain themselves, to communicateopenly with fans and to defend their posi-tions without the filter of public relationsrepresentatives. If they can occasionallyhype their careers — well, who is harmed?

Some of the BestComedySteve Martin, 2.3 million followers(SSteveMartinToGo Mr. Martin this weekpublished a short book of his best tweets,"The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of VeryOrganized People. Make That Ten." In it, he

says of Twitter: "I thought tweeting mightbe a way to cultivate lines and ideas for mynew banjo stage show. But all this tweetmaterial turned out to be good for just onething: tweeting."

Mr. Martin has tested the medium. He'stweeted interactive song parodies with hisfollowers and posted an ongoing series oftweets from a jury-duty waiting room. ("De-fendant's hair looking very Conan-y today.GUILTY.").

Once he accidentally tweeted "SteveMartin" while trying to search for hisname. Embarrassed that millions would

know he was searching for mentions ofhimself, he made the most of it in a fol-low-up tweet: "Steve Martin oily musclesbeach Speedo photo."Joan Rivers, 890,000, @Joan_Rivers Aheavy tweet rate ensures Ms. Rivers can de-liver a steady stream of news-driven zing-ers without sacrificing mention of her TVand live appearances. Sample: "M.I.A is

hosting a Grammy party. She'll be servingall of her favorite finger foods."

Richard Lewis, 68,000, @Theßichar-dLewis The actor and comedian posts ang-sty complains and one-liners that you justknow he agonizes over before posting. Sam-ple: "I'd go to sleep now but would hate tomiss out on a bad experience."Demetri Martin, 182,000, @DemetriMar-tin This feed is at its best when Mr. Martinextends his illustration-based comedy intothe world of tweets. Sample: "(x) = A re-volving door, from above."Patton Oswalt, 633,000, (©pattonoswaltAn inside glimpse at the travels and trialsof a fully booked actor/comedian. Sample:Wow. 23 years in comedy and I still have tospell-check "diarrhea."Jonathan Katz, 11,000, @jonathan_katzThe deadpan stand-up and movie comedianis not above using Twitter as a focus groupfor material. Sample: "My niece just turnedseven and is starting to ask those embar-rassing questions like "What does a guy likeyou make?"¦Don SteinbergBooksJennifer Weiner, 38,000, (cpjenniferweiner Thebest-selling chick-lit author tweets abouther life, politics and ABC's "The Bachelor.""A safe Twitter feed is no fun for anybody,"says Ms. Weiner. She likes when tweetersembrace their personalities and loatheswhen they write about mundane topics,like being on a dietary cleanse. "You haveto remember you're playing to an audi-ence," she says.

Although many writers gripe that Twit-ter is a vehicle for procrastination, Ms.Weiner says that tweeting has actually en-hanced her writing abilities. "It lets uswork on timing and word choice," says Ms.Weiner, who has a new novel coming outthis summer. "It's about saying what weneed to say, getting to the point."Bret Easton Ellis, 236,000, @BretEaston El-lis The "American Psycho" author tweetsabout movies and TV: "I hate to think ofwhat Billy Wilder would make of TerrenceMalick...," he wrote.

Buzz Bissinger, 26,000, @buzzbissinger The"Friday Night Lights" author might be theonly famous person on Twitter who hasn'tyet changed his avatar from the standardegg to an actual picture. He tweeted an ex-planation for his missing picture, in whichhe says he looks like an uptight "typical au-thor": "Only thing missing tortoise shellglasses and pipe."FashionPeter Som, 10,500, @Peter_SomThe designer started tweeting in 2010 atthe behest of his business partner, ElanaPosner, who told him he had to join Twitterto build his brand. He quickly discoveredthat people didn't want to hear him talkingabout clothes all the time. Although hispublicist often posts images of celebritieswearing Peter Som ensembles to theirTwitter feed, the designer prefers tweetingabout his love for cooking, "Downton Ab-bey" and "The Real Housewives of At-lanta." ("MAYYJOR drama!" he tweeted af-ter a recent episode.) "I didn't realizepeople were that interested in what I haveto say," says Mr. Som.

Bonnie Morrison, 4400, @fiercegrandma Thefashion publicist is known for snarky, hu-morous tweets about what people are wear-ing. "Of course Fergie has to style a rela-tively pretty dress with a slutty padded braand earrings from Claire's," she wrote of theBlack Eyed Peas singer's Grammy ensemble.

Isaac Mizrahi , 30,000, @IsaacMizrahi Thedesigner, food and theater enthusiasttweets about some of his favorite things.After lamenting that he was too late towatch "RuPaul's Drag Race," a reality com-petition for transvestites on the Logochannel, he blamed himself: "Fashionwaits for no one."MusicRoseanne Cash, 41,000 arosannecash"I notice The Boss doesn't need to wear a

miter to sound like he owns the wholefreaking world," the singer-songwritertweeted during Bruce Springsteen's per-formance at the recent Grammy Awards.She was referring to hip-hop artist NickiMinaj's appearance on the red carpet with a

man dressed as the pope.

Taylor Swift, 11.2 million, @taylorswiftl3Ms. Swift, known for her earnest country-pop crossover songs, tweets about her life:"My two new best friends!!!!!," she wrotefrom the Grammys, posting a picture ofherself holding two trophies. To be sure,Ms. Swift's Twitter feed isn't as funny as a

parody @realtaylorswift (347,000 follow-ers), in which "she" tweets mushy state-ments that could have emerged from a Tay-

lor Swift song, such as: "It's not you I'mrejecting, it's my heart I'm protecting."

Kanye West, 6.7 million, @kanyewest Thecontroversial rapper doesn't tweet that of-ten, but when he does, he unleashes a tor-rent of bizarre messages. His most recentbender took place on Jan. 5, in which herailed against consumerism, wrote aboutthe need for education reform, and invokedMichael Jackson, Alexander McQueen and

George Bernard Shaw. Sample: "We needscientist [sic] and top world designers todirectly affect governments."Nico Muhly, 10,000, @nicomuhly The

young composer, who has collaboratedwith artists like Bjork, sends funny tweetsabout mundane topics. Sample: "I'm inthat weird area of bed bath and beyondwhere it's discount Bonne Maman pre-serves and nut milks.."

FOODMario Batali, 245,000, @Mariobatali ChefBatali first heard about Twitter a couple ofyears ago when he read about AshtonKutcher posting photos of Demi Moore's"panty-clad bottom," he says. At the time,he thought Twitter was "an example of ev-erything that was wrong with modern soci-

ety," he says.But after being persuaded to join by Ari-

anna Huffington and Twitter CEO Dick Cos-tolo— they were all at a dinner together atthe CES conference in 2010— Mr. Batalifound his groove. He answers dozens ofcooking questions every day from peoplewho use the #heymb tag. Sample: "I madechicken caccitore the other night I addedbaby bellas could one use wine to deglazepan?" someone asked. "Yes!!" respondedMr. Batali.

"I realized I could become a quick-an-swer place for people that somehow don'tknow how to use Google," says Mr. Batali.

Anthony Bourdain, 733,000, @noreserva-tions The renegade chef tweets mostlyabout food and traveling in his signatureprovocative style. Sample: Following thenews that Paula Deen would be thespokesperson for a diabetes drug hewrote, "Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sellcrutches later."Eric Ripert, 766,500 @ericripertThe Le Bernardin chef tweets pictures offood, retweets the Dalai Lama. Sample:"AL Roker just called me: The Pepe Lepew of cooking?!?!? Al watch out thestaircase is slippery today... You couldbreak your 1eg...(:"