The New Thing: Ghost-Twittering

You’ve probably heard about ghostwriting, especially when it comes to super-long novels, which, let’s face it, takes a lot of precious time.

But Twittering? That’s like, what? A sentence?

Even so, celebrities aren’t doing it. So if you’re following the tweets of 50 Cent, John Mayer, Kanye West, or Britney Spears, you’re really getting tweeted by “hired ghosts”.

In fact, some of these celebs don’t even like Twitter. (“Like” is a nice way of putting it.)

This is what John Mayer said to Marc Malkin of E!:

Twitter is "inherently silly and it's inherently dumb...If you really think that Twitter is the pathway to spiritual enlightenment, well...it's one step away from sending pictures of your poop."

I can’t help but laugh, but I bet his 400,000 followers are pissed.

Hilarious Twitter Video

Having not jumped on the Twitter train (try saying that 5 times fast!), I sometimes feel like I'm missing out on something really important and special.

Then I find a video like this...

New SciFi Name is Lame, Angers Twitterers

This just in: the SciFi Channel is changing its name.

It still sounds exactly the same, but the boring I's have been replaced by more trendy Y’s, making it...SyFy.

Why, you may ask, is the brilliant reason behind this change?

“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular...

We spent a lot of time in the ’90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it’s called Sci-Fi."


(Yeah, because “Sci-Fi” sounds nothing like a shorter version of “Science Fiction,” and “Syfy” sounds nothing like “Sci-Fi.”)


“We [the mega-corporation that owns this channel] really do want to own the imagination space. We want to get the credit for the range of content that we already have on our air and that we’ll be doing more of in the future.

When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it...

We’ll get the heritage and the track record of success, and we’ll build off of that to build a broader, more open and accessible and relatable and human-friendly brand.”


Hey, I’m a human! I’ll definitely start watching SyFy!

By taking the science fiction out of Sci-Fi NBC Universal hopes to broaden its brand to appeal to greater audiences, while simultaneously insulting all of its original fans.

It looks like Twitterers aren’t too happy about the name change either. (Twitterers: the “techno-savvy” demographic that supposedly influenced the name change in the first place.)


tewha: BREAKING NEWS: Sci Fi to skip SyFy name, go directly to "Channel nobody watches."

mebobyounot: Sci Fi channel is now SyFy? Sounds way to close to Syfylis/syhphilis

sebFlyte: SyFy = Fail. That is all. (This one's my favourite.)

stitzelj: How long do you think it'll be before the SciFi Channel decides to do away with their new 'SyFy' brand due to the general outcry against it?

VoltjanStevens: SciFi Channel is changing their name to Syfy? That is TERRIBLE. That is SO. STUPIDLY. AWFUL.

jenn2d2: The day that the Sci-Fi Channel becomes "SyFy" is when I stop consuming their content. I guess they don't need geeks with disposable income.


What's my take? Seems to be another example of a corporation trying to own the rights to everything, even creating their own unlikable word to claim an entire genre as their own brand.

Dumb? Yes...but not surprising.