Remediating for 140 Characters

I used Twitter to discuss the farewell album of scene stalwarts Yellowcard, who released their self-titled final record (their 8^th full-length album since 2001) on September 30^th. As a massive big fan, their farewell proved to be a fitting one, a perfect send off to a band whose work has time and time again struck a chord with me.

I opted to use the band hashtags (#Yellowcard and #YC) as a way to connect my tweets with those who may appreciate them, i.e. fellow fans of the band. In addition, I employed the #PopPunk hashtag in an attempt to attract the attention of genre fans, those with similar taste in music who would likely know Yellowcard and who may be interested in my tweets. I also chose to tweet at night time (9PM), in an attempt to capture the attention of the American market, who would just be starting their day at (9AM). Unfortunately, it is hard to "reach an international customer base on Twitter,” and I was unable to converse with any Americans.

My tweets discussed two separate reviews on the final album, one positive and one negative. Perhaps unsurprisingly given my targeted audience was Yellowcard fans, the negative review provoked more conversation. Fellow fans tweeted me to register their fellow disappointment in the review, particularly the assertion lyrics had never been the band’s strong point. I re-tweeted these tweets, to “not simply to get messages out to new audiences, but also tovalidate and engage” with my followers and acknowledge my agreement with them.

I also tagged Yellowcard lead singer Ryan Key in one of the tweets, in an effort to attract his attention and remarkably, he took time out of his day to respond to my tweet. I’m sure he gets tweeted regularly by fans, so it was a nice gesture of him to choose to respond to my tweet. His response garnered a few likes from other Yellowcard fans, which opened up my tweet to another audience.

As a regular Twitter user, I always enjoy discussing music on there as some of my followers have similar music taste and this was no exception. It feels good to raise points in an online environment and have people over the other side of Australia agree with you. Given most of my friends have differing tastes in music, I found it fun to discuss one of my favourite bands with strangers via Twitter.

Pictures: Screenshotted from Twitter.