No i don’t kill people, eat their liver or shrink a human head down to the size of an orange.
Well, where do i begin. To use apt menu terms;
- A smattering of obsession with Web Memes
- 2 ounces of the Deeper web
- about 13 pints of Horror movies
- Not alot of sleep
The culmination of all of these things plus the fact that working in Social Media hasn’t given me enough time to paint in oils recently, resulted in the birth of a twitter account simply called @dinner_guest. (the name coming out of the recent Obama dinner news). The image was always going to be a Francis Bacon picture, he is after all the (GOD) of the art world.
@dinner_guest went live on November 10th 1.53pmwith the post
The dinner_guest twitter account
It might not be to everyone’s taste, but i have read, watched and written alot of horror fiction in my time, and adore the likes of Clive Barker, Bret Easton Ellis and Thomas Harris and of course i have watched Dexter.
So what is @dinner_guest? for those who don’t know. Well it’s the inner dialogue of a cannibalistic, slightly camp serial killer living in Brighton that people thought might be real.
When i first started writing @dinner_guest, it was research for a character in my novel “Deeper web”. But then after a few posts all of which were pretty grizzly, i decided to push the envelope and seeded it. I sent a tweet out to my Twitter followers saying that i had come across a creepy twitter account called @dinner_guest whilst doing outreach for food bloggers. (Hey I’m in marketing - i lie).
The 10 things i wanted to achieve with @dinner_guest?
- Shake things up abit
- Develop a well rounded character
- Make Tweets as experimental as Twitter applications
- To hit back at the purist “Toe to the line” tweeters
- Get traction on other blogs
- Get over 30 comments
- Get influencer mentions
- Get over 100 active followers (not a passive 1000)
- Get 30 RT’s
- Make people question it’s reality
I didn’t however imagine that people would think that it was real, it was too campy, too much like Lecter or Barker. But they did, go figure!
Techcrunch mike Butcher on @dinner_guest
Before the TechCrunch story went live, Mike Butcher of Techcrunch DM’d me on Twitter to ask if the account was mine, i said no. Oops! “Not that trusted a source, sorry Mike”.
Hey i was interested to see where it went and since most idea’s I had a spent ages crafting were normally “borrowed” by those with ‘influence’. This time i thought “sod it” this is my creation… “Pull the lever! mwaaahhhaaahhhhaaa!”
Mike Butcher comment on @dinner_guest
Then i was sitting at home working on a video for my blog and i got another tweet saying “that @dinner_guest thing is everywhere”. I thought “Oops.. then shit” and then didn’t sleep for 24 hours expecting the police to knock on my door. It had begun to snowball and my iphone bleeped all night with updates as i hid under my pillow.
Brighton and hove news “serial killer comes to Brighton“, technews “murder on Twitter, Techblog “viral or real thing?” and Bitchbuzz “are there murderers on Twitter?”, the inquisitr a murderer on twitter or a very viral campaign.
Then poor Rob Carter gets the blame only because i followed him, sorry Rob.
It ran for around 24 hours and then after reading the @katiemoffat (katie rules by the way) piece about the fact that something like this could make people question the security of the mediu, and mybe increase stricter government controls, Jan Moir of the Daily Mail for example is exactly the kind of person to get her canine teeth into this kind of controversy, i made the decision to move it to the next level. I was going to ‘out’ dinner_guest.
Then what was really funny, was that from a comment on the Techcrunch story byScott Gould who calls himself a “thinker, do-er and passionate christian” and give a top 10 tips why @dinner_guest is a fake, they do make me laugh. Then Techcrunch ran with another update calling dinner_guest a fake based in Scott’s odd observations.
I then wanted to take it all down a notch and changed @dinner_guests to something a little less ‘Dark’
It was late at night and i picked a blogger https://twitter.com/Zee i felt deserved the story and so i gave him an interview with @dinner_guest at 12.00pm by email.
Some 2 days later, one of my followers https://twitter.com/SRQ2U told me that a reporter from MSNBC really upset me by saying that;
“@dinner_guest is posting tweets cribbed from Dr. Michael Stone’s Scale of Evil, totally ripping off my “Law & Order” spec script and getting way more followers than the banal bon mots deserved”
So what i did achieve with @dinner_guest in 3 days?
- A Clout score of 37 and connector status in 3 days http://klout.com/profile/summary/dinner_guest/
- Lists following dinner_guest - 12
- Unique referers of dinner_guest content- 69
- A poll asking if followers on Twitter would like to hear more stories got 100 entries
- Reached 6447 people in 50 tweets
- Impressions to dinner_guest in 3 days - 12,000
- Average of 18 RT per day
- Frequency of followers remains the same
- Blogs mentioning dinner_guest around 37
- Got over 30 comments
- Shook things up abit
- Develop a well rounded character (DONE)
- Got 3 influencer mentions
- Get over 200 active followers (not a passive 1000)
- G0t 40 RT’s
- Made people question it’s reality
- Got to now a load of very cool (unsocial media) people
I will be following up this post, with a series of videos talking about this type of approach with the @freshegg team (who didnt know about this at first)
Looking further into the analytics behind this campain and how doing something like this could benefit a brand.
Would i do this again? “hell yeah, and i wouldn’t come clean about it for weeks!”
What would i do differently? sell alot of teeth whitening products (lol)
“sleep well my friends”
Heres a bunch of amazing Twitter users that were open minded enough and using the medium in the way it should be, for being passionate about a niche
@SRQ2U @RukCooray @joankite @chloelowewew11 @markwilliamsjr @Zee @elisbk @kirstenask @phil__cooper @f0rged @DanxMcGowan @kirstenask @rikt @mrhoneybear @CheddarChad @lord_raiden @chillydog61 @n01d34 @JLuchkiw @maurawhite @charlesgoodall @jeff_duff @BrightonSkip @RitaSnatch @TheNextWeb
@SianeP @Suitov @cityferret @mikiewoods @aaronccrawford @morbidluv @BradleyF81 @Nicolebad @keefmoon @Dabinto @beckara @David_Bobby @HeadbangToday @toxicmenges
If i have missed anyone, please add your twitter name as a comment
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(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Ruk
27.11.09
Brilliant!
[Reply]
Nikki Rae
27.11.09
Claire, you are an amazingly talented lady and have clearly shown that you are the best in the industry - plus a little black humour and a smidgen of controversy! - Perfect.
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
Coming from a Goddess like you i am moved!
[Reply]
Nichola Stott
27.11.09
Absolutely brilliant. Well planned, well played and well executed.I saw your ’seed’ tweet, went and had a quick look and thought ‘this has to be a pro media person’. Didn’t twig it was you though!
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
Thanks very much Nichola
[Reply]
Lee Colbran
27.11.09
The Life Insurance policies at Fresh Egg just went up!
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
lol, any clients you can pitch for that?
[Reply]
Rob
28.11.09
I followed @dinner_guest (I even suggested a couple of service to him/her) and found it more amusing than anything. I find it incredible that people thought it was real. Well done you!
Rob
(@LandersIE)
[Reply]
Ken sims
28.11.09
He helps me plan my meals. That mans use of spices is to die for!
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 29.11.09
did that sorbet work out for you?
[Reply]
Matt_Muir
27.11.09
Gaming Twitter - an interesting case study: RT @dinner_guest: http://bit.ly/8uhiAo
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
Gaming Twitter… hummm
[Reply]
imeldak
27.11.09
Cool RT @killer_bunnie: Why i created a Fake Account on Twitter http://bit.ly/65fPUl
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
BrightonArgusJo
27.11.09
Well I’d never have guessed that! @killer_bunnie outs herself as @dinner_guest http://bit.ly/65fPUl
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
You are a bloody fantastic person, i really wanted to tell you that it was me on Saturday at the #getinvolved gig.
[Reply]
Dunkndisorderly
27.11.09
shes didn’t get past me! Great experiment thought RT @killer_bunnie: Why i created a Fake Account on Twitter http://bit.ly/65fPUl
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
I bow down to your superior knowledge you found me out. Your like clarice starling with more beer involved.
[Reply]
Howard_Scott
27.11.09
@dinner_guest comes clean! Patrick Bateman smiles. RT Why i created a Fake Account on Twitter http://bit.ly/65fPUl (via @killer_bunnie)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Tigervamp
27.11.09
An interesting read! Thanks! RT @Matt_Muir Gaming Twitter - an interesting case study: RT @dinner_guest: http://bit.ly/8uhiAo
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
We are going to get together and shake this thing up some more eh!
[Reply]
Thomas_Newton
27.11.09
but as this link reveals, it wasn’t the case: http://bit.ly/6RDGuO [via @freshegg]
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
m0vie_mania
27.11.09
Very interesting! - ‘Why I created a psycho killer on Twitter’: http://bit.ly/8uhiAo (via @dinner_guest)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
chrisclapham
27.11.09
Inspired experiment! RT @killer_bunnie Why i created a Psycho on Twitter - @dinner_guest http://bit.ly/6RDGuO
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
Thankyou very much
[Reply]
SRQ2U
27.11.09
@danielrubin You should snag an interview w/her. Interesting expansion of social media. She just outted herself today. http://bit.ly/6RDGuO
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Reply by Claire Stokoe - 27.11.09
You have been so supportive matey, your the type of twitter follower that everyone should have and should follow.
[Reply]
lawrencejob
27.11.09
Serial killer on Twitter. Almost as (well..) explosive as @clarksonforpm. http://bit.ly/8uhiAo @dinner_guest @killer_bunnie (via @freshegg).
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
jaamit
27.11.09
our claire came out today. not in that way :D Why i created a Psycho on Twitter - @dinner_guest by @killer_bunnie http://bit.ly/4mMKh6
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
pgrichards
27.11.09
Well done Claire , you are really out there pushing the boundaries! Check out @dinner_guest by @killer_bunnie - http://bit.ly/4mMKh6
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
BHcitynews
27.11.09
@peterjamesuk He’s a her apparently http://blog.freshegg.com/created-psycho-twitter-dinnerguest_2482
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
keefmoon
28.11.09
@madAndroid –> RT @dinner_guest: RT @freshegg: Fresh Egg’s Latest - Why i created a Psycho on Twitter - @dinner_guest http://bit.ly/6RDGuO
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
dinner_guest
28.11.09
If i have missed anyone off ths post (at the end) add yourself http://blog.freshegg.com/created-psycho-twitter-dinnerguest_2482
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
killer_bunnie
28.11.09
Twitter followers that helped @dinner_guest & made it work #socialmedia #twitter these guys are fantastic and supportive http://ow.ly/GrbK
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
joankite
28.11.09
For those who think @dinner_guest might stop by.http://tinyurl.com/yhst2lq
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
SRQ2U
28.11.09
It’s been fun! RT@freshegg: Fresh Egg’s Latest - Why i created a Psycho on Twitter - @dinner_guest http://bit.ly/6RDGuO
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
Reply by @longf3llow - 29.11.09
its fun following this page…
@longf3llow
[Reply]
yamasas
30.11.09
[twitter] Why i created a Psycho on Twitter - @dinner_guest - Google, Google Analytics & Conversion, Social Media, http://bit.ly/83LBPG
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
rishil
30.11.09
Why I created a Psycho on twitter: http://bit.ly/8uhiAo
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]
anjmoor
03.12.09
i still love this story http://blog.freshegg.com/created-psycho-twitter-dinnerguest_2482
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[Reply]