Saturday, 18 September 2010

Spooky tweets

Someone is running a black op on the internet.

Write a tweet mentioning "Spooks" or including hashtags like #BBCSpooks and one or more of the regular main characters from the series will follow you and may well reply to your tweets.

From the boss, Harry, to agents like Ros, Lucas and Dimitri and Ruth who rarely gets away from the Grid your favourite Spook is now just a tweet away.

Given the content of some of the tweets I doubt the BBC are running the campaign.

@zutek Bastard....less than a minute ago via web


@Lucas_North You're a little shite, Lucas. Have I ever told you that? #Spooksless than a minute ago via web


I suspect this also rules out Kudos who produce the series.

Whoever's doing this it's fun and creating a bit of online buzz around the start of the new series on Monday.

13 comments:

  1. Spooks is post-watershed and considering what 50 - fiddy - cent posts on his stream I don't think this mild language rules out the Beeb or Kudos.

    Besides they're "in character" so according to BBC standards they can use language necessary and appropriate for the portrayal of their character!

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  2. That's true enough about Spooks' transmission slot, James. The show's audience will also be grown up and they've got previous for not caring about stuff like deep-frying charater's heads.

    And the tweets I've highlighted are dierect at other Spooks characters rather than members of the public.

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  4. I see you're a media/radio-head so you're probably aware what kind of language Radio 4 sometimes get away with in their afternoon plays!

    Also this spook is a bit of a give-away: http://twitter.com/william_towers

    Google confirms there's very little written about this brand new character. Although the information is out there in a couple of places I'd say the inclusion of the new Home Secretary on Twitter pretty much links the Twitter accounts to the Beeb or Kudos

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  5. There's mention of Simon Russell Beale's role as William Towers on IMDB which isn't exactly top secret. In fact it's linked to from his bio on Twitter. I'd find it more credible as a BBC/Kudos effort if the Twitter pages linked back to the programme's website.

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  6. Oh yeah - and those Radio 4 plays don't "get away" with saying "fuck" - that sort of language requires approval from "senior editorial figures" (see the bit in red towards the bottom of the page). In the case of radio I believe that usually means the channel controller. In other words it's been clearly thought out, contextualised and the reply to any complaining letters and emails has already been drafted. It's a very different proposition to a fast moving social media campaign with the potential to grow very quickly.

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  7. I'll have a go with the Kudos press office on Monday, and if they won't talk to me I know someone they almost certainly will talk to!

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  8. Wish you the best of luck with all of this finding out stuff, you are going to need it,I'm on Harry's list of associates and have nothing to do with any media type oompany... really do wish you luck

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  9. @James - please post a comment with anything you find out.

    @Anon - thanks for dropping by. What do you mean when you say you're "on Harry's list of associates"?

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  10. Sir Harry Pearce has a list on twitter,check it out,http://twitter.com/SirHJPearce/associates-of-mi5

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  11. I spoke to Kudos and their PR company, Premier PR, and got the statement from Premier PR that...

    They were not behind the Spooks twitterers and they didn't believe Kudos would be doing this but they would check with Kudos and get back to me with a definitive statement.

    The spokesperson also pointed out that Spooks had such a dedicated fan base that this is the sort of dedicated activity she would have expected.

    Will put a post up if Premier PR ever get back to me with a definitive statement. Looks like you were right James (W)!

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  12. Thanks for the update James.

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