Original Twitter-ers: Church marquees

Every digital innovation has an analog predecessor. Newspapers gave birth to radio, TV and the web, digital photography has replaced traditional film, snail mail has given way to e-mail & SMS, etc. Most of what we figure out in the digital world is an evolution or modification of an analog equivalent. No secret there.

Twitter also has a few analog parents but one stands out- they both consist of short messages that are used to make a statement, share news or attract attention, and whether you read them or not is based on being at the right place at the right time. The original twitter-ers/tweeters are Church marquees.

Let's start with the obvious. They are short form content. Twitter is 140 chars, Church marquees are limited only by the space on the sign and the size of the plastic letters.

They are both better served by attracting 'followers'. More twitter followers means more audience with which to share your wisdom/humor/self absorbed musings. More church followers means more people to absorb religious doctrines and fill the collection tray. Neither is better off in a vacuum.

They both use obscure shortcuts to 'link' to other content. Twitter-ers use URL shortners to point to referenced content. Church marquees use chapter & verse notation to point to specifc passages.

Whether or not you read the messaging depends on being at the right place at the right time. Depending on the number of people you follow on twitter and how active they are in a particular day, you may or may not see something that was tweeted because of the noise. Likewise with a Church marquee, you may or may not notice the marquee when you drive by...

With both, success depends on the quality of the lead. You will either pique someone's interest or you won't. Like any product slogan or tagline, there is an art in being able to communicate exactly what you want within a limited amount of space, and since there isn't really a way to do A/B testing in either medium, you'd better get it right, lest you'd prefer to tweet or preach into the ethereal, eternal bit bucket :)