arstechnica.com: Marketers, when they hit, can identify the seed of a product, service or organization and plant it in fertile soil where it will grow like mad. They can tease out the implications of the object they're charged with publicizing or find the motif that others are most likely to riff on. But when they fail, they can fail in the most mortifying fashion. All around the country, the marketing staff at live performance spaces big and small are embracing the "youthquake" in the grooviest way I've seen in years. They are offering up "tweet seats" to the kids.It is an operatically stupid idea.
11 comments:
Is this real life?
I am truly shocked that theatres are adopting this policy. I am as "plugged in" as any other person of my age living in these times, but I can recognize that there are certain times where it's just not appropriate to be updating my Twitter. Why would anyone feel the need to tweet something when they're seeing a show? What could possibly be so urgent? Whenever I'm in a situation that forces me to disconnect from the internet (like seeing a play or going out to eat) I actually find it extremely refreshing. In fact, one of my goals for the summer is to spend less meaningless time on the internet and more time having Real Human Interactions.
Disregarding my own personal opposition to the principle behind this, I can still point out several problems from a logical standpoint. First of all, do these theatres really think that just by putting the "Tweet Seats" in the back row the distractions will remain there? Are they also installing some tinted, sound-proof glass in front of these seats to stop the spill of light and sound from reaching other audience members? Also, aren't there some seriously dangerous safety risks involved (form the actor's standpoint)? And isn't there a risk that these patrons would use their various electronics to photograph the production and post it around the internet?
This is just dumb.
Oh dear…
This is a new low.
Not only is this incredibly disrespectful to the actors and everyone else working on a production, but why would you pay $$$ (lets face it theatre’s not cheap) to see a production that you’re only half paying attention to? Why a theatre would allow this at the risk of jeopardizing the enjoyment of other patrons and copyright law I will never know. The magic of theatre rests on a façade carefully constructed through acting, scenery, costumes, sound, and lighting effects. It is very, very easy to get distracted from the story by the playhouse itself, the other audience members, cell phone vibration, a fly, you name it really. Cell phones are just one more distraction that draw you out of a piece of theatre and consequently ruin the story for both the phone user and anyone around them.
Why would a theater promote disruption and rudeness. Tweeting mid-show is not only disrespectful to the actors, but also to other audience members and having special seating isn't going to change that. The theater also isn't going to gain from allowing people to tweet during the show. Even if people post positive things about what they're seeing, why would waiting until a more appropriate time decrease that. I would say that I'm of the generation that this policy would try to cater too, and I find this to be incredibly disrespectful. I would not want to see a show where a bunch of audience members are just intentionally disengaged and disruptive. That sounds entirely distracting and unappealing to me as someone who wants to have a true, uninterrupted, and involved experience.
I cannot believe that this is happening. First of all, I think it is pathetic if you can't sit through a two-hour show without tweeting so that everyone knows exactly every detail of your life and gives you attention. That is just sad. Second, the fact that theaters are willing to let people blatantly disrespect their art to make more money is disheartening. Third, I completely agree with author Curt Hopkins on the fact that this is not going to compel people to see more theatre. If someone is the kind of person who will tweet during a show, they are probably not the kind of person that would pay that much money for a show or even want to go to one in the first place. I'm all into taking advantage of social media and new technologies, but this idea is just no good. This is a great example of how technology can sometimes be detrimental to the arts instead of beneficial.
So this summer I worked at a theater that encouraged all of the interns to tweet as much as possible, and the audience to live tweet before and at the performance. I also have to been a church sermon where we were instructed to live tweet if we heard something that we liked. This is not as intense as offering tweeting seats, but I do see some benefit to it. Tweeting about theaters and hash tagging them will get their name out in the world. But given this I still don't think people don't really understand how social media works yet and so they don't really understand why tweeting is important. If someone like Perez Hilton tweets about the public theater then people will pay attention and potentially look into it, but if Joe shom how has 23 followers tweets about the public then only people that are already looking at the public or those 23 people will know what he has to say. I think that if you want live tweeters in your theater you should target people that are connected to organizations, these people will inform so many more people. Also frankly I don't know how people have that much to tweet about shows, what are they going to use 160 characters to say, "OH SHIT TYBALT JUST DIED". I don't think so. It will probably be better for theaters for people to just say that they are at the theater seeing the show.
excuse me while i gather up enough shame this idea deserves. twat seats.. i mean tweet seats is a horrible idea. its insulting to the theatre in so many ways that it should be blatantly obvious. if anyone is going to sit down in an audience having paid for a ticket to watch the performance they should have the decency to show the performers and the show the respect it deserves. i will say thank god these sections are in the back out of the way because if i saw somebody in front of me on their iPad playing angry birds during spring awakening id be liable to slap them with the iPad. when it comes to making money there should be a line that theaters should draw. and that is giving the people who insult the performance with their addiction to social media a special place to sit and tell them its ok to disregard the performance they came to see.
WOW…..Have we really become so attached to our electronics that we can’t put them down for long enough to enjoy the piece of theatre that we just paid for. I am still stunned by this idea. I can’t believe that they are encouraging people to not pay attention to their show and use their mobile devices. I understand that the theatre wants people to talk about their shows but can’t you just have them wait till after your show is done instead of encouraging them to do it in the middle. This all just seems too extreme and lets face it even if they are in the back row they are still going to be distracting.
You're kidding.
This is repulsive. The theater is supposed to be a place for you to disconnect from the world around you for a couple hours. Are people that much of slaves to their social media that they absolutely have to get special attention and receive special seating? Unless you're an official theater critic, your teenage opinion on Twitter will not matter. Get over yourself. And even then, theater critics know better than to divide their attention between a show and a gizmo. Have some decency and respect for the people performing in front of you.
I have to agree that having "tweet seats" is a rediculous concept to say the least. First, why would you go to a theatre, pay for a ticket and then not pay attention by tweeting? Second, I think it is rude to the actors. Do they not warrant your full attention? If you miss something, you can't rewind. It's live, which is part of the thrill of it. If those that tweet, need to do so frequently, then live theatre isn't for them. There is this thing called common courtesy, and tweeting during a show is not included in this.
I don't understand how any theatre using this tactic actually expects allowing people to use technology during the show to get more people to see the show. If a person doesn't want to see a play, the ability to pay money to sit in a seat and tweet isn't going to get that person into the theatre. And that's besides the point that, as many people have already pointed out, it's incredibly rude to the performers and the other people of the audience. I believe that this could actually result in people who would otherwise go see the play, but who weren't all that interested, leaving or not going at all due to the distraction/noise from people on their technology.
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