Twitter Gets the Oprah Treatment

By Claire Cain Miller

It is the universal sign of a new idea going mainstream: Oprah Winfrey is bestowing her endorsement on Twitter.

Chris Pizzello/AP Oprah Winfrey

The woman who can single-handedly send a new product or book flying off the shelves has just joined Twitter. She has not yet written a tweet, but more than 30,000 followers have already signed up to follow her every 140-character thought, and the number is growing. Rumor has it she will write her first tweet on Friday, when she is dedicating her show to Twitter. (It airs at 4 p.m. Eastern time — check your local listings here for details on viewing the show in your area.)

Ashton Kutcher will be on the show, according to Oprah’s Web site. He is one of Twitter’s most active celebrity twitterers and will most likely talk about his race with CNN to be the first to get a million followers.

Maybe Evan Williams, Twitter’s chief executive, will be on the show, too. He mysteriously twittered this message Thursday morning: “Tomorrow just became a very big day. (Sorry for the teaser — more later.)” The blogs went wild. An acquisition? A partnership with Google? An update on his wife’s pregnancy?

More likely, an appearance on Oprah. Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder, told me that Friday’s news will be “more exciting for Ev personally but also good for Twitter.”

Oprah is already following the twitterings of both Mr. Williams and Mr. Kutcher, as well as Demi Moore, Ellen DeGeneres, Gayle King and George Stephanopoulos.

Twitter’s popularity has been soaring in the last few months — according to Compete, a Web analytics firm, Twitter had 14 million unique visitors in March, up from eight million in February.

Oprah’s blessing will surely send traffic to the stratosphere as a flood of new people discover the microblogging service. It will also test the service’s ability to handle the increased traffic — just imagine if Oprah logs on and gets the famous Fail Whale indicating that the Twitter service is overloaded.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

MeghanBeattie April 16, 2009 · 5:38 pm

THERE WILL BE FAIL WHALES ALL OVER THE PLACE!! EEK – can’t wait to see what the big announcement is!

Walter G April 16, 2009 · 5:51 pm

So should Oprah be considered a trend setter?

What’s the deal with Twitter? Something don’t smell right but I just can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s almost like the next step will be to share our thoughts, muses, inspiration, and ideas in real time. Kind of like I am doing now, but Twitter somehow seems more devious. Nothing wrong with sharing ideas or thoughts, but c’mon, can’t do it all the time right? Thoughts are generally supposed to be for contemplation. To ponder what was or should have been. To prepare for next time.

Stevie April 16, 2009 · 5:58 pm

I was listening to “Wait, wait, don’t tell me” on NPR and they said “once NPR finds out about something, it’s already old.”

susan April 16, 2009 · 6:00 pm

Does anyone else see this as an attempt to become The Borg? Connected all the time – real time networked with all these others.

Please. Just try to avoid the desire to assimilate everyone you run across.

SJU April 16, 2009 · 6:04 pm

I don’t Twitter. I have a life.

Jack Henry April 16, 2009 · 6:04 pm

The faster this particular self-promotion tool hits saturation the better. Then it will level off, find it usefulness plateau. Useful, yes. Essential. no. But so what? Nothing to be threatened by. Just another tool in the toolbox.

Steven April 16, 2009 · 6:25 pm

Twitter- n., what to do during Oprah’s commercial breaks.

ralph tyler April 16, 2009 · 6:32 pm

twitter can be useful. for example, it may tell you where your kids are. it can also be a good organizational tool for a group activity.

however, in general, it is a metaphor for our time, i.e. lots of information and very little content.

Seriously? April 16, 2009 · 6:34 pm

I am constantly amazed how people are trying to figure out what Twitter is all about. It’s really not that complicated. It’s simply a new form of communication. It can suck up most of your time, but it is also an amazing vehicle for listening to what people are saying and to engage in that conversation.

The thing to realize is that Twitter means different things to different people. For some it’s a way of connecting with friends. For others it’s to feel more personally connected to people like Ashton Kuchar. For still others, it’s a way to get and diseminate information quickly, whether it’s in a promotional/marketing way or something more noble and human like what happened in Mumbai.

David Bonofiglio April 16, 2009 · 6:52 pm

Must we continually be subjected to this woman’s whims? I still fail to see why she has been made the arbiter of Midwestern hausfrau culture. She has dubious taste and best and yet seems to relish her ability to convince the under-read masses to pick up the latest piece of literary under achievement. Can’t we just ignore her and hope she goes away?

althea April 16, 2009 · 6:55 pm

I love twitter and if Oprah is doing it, than it must be done.

Steve D. April 16, 2009 · 7:01 pm

Twitter: it’s a time-killer AND an addiction!

Congratulations, America… you’ve found yet another way to distract yourself from the important things in life.

Linda Hemerik April 16, 2009 · 7:48 pm

Does not matter what the critics say about Twitter: who ever was not on Twitter will be after Oprah’s first tweet.

Shannon April 16, 2009 · 8:00 pm

Walter G.,

I am very interested in your philosophical way of expressing your views. Would like to chat sometime.
On the issue of “twitter” I am new, I must confess, but I feel it is my responsibility as a parent of a teenager to know what mediums are out there. We’ll see.

Denise April 16, 2009 · 8:25 pm

I wonder was she aware of any tea parties??? Will she have anyone on her show about them ??? I am sure that over 40000 people are not warrented for ratings!!

AH2 April 16, 2009 · 8:28 pm

twitter ditter all day long soon we’ll have no time left for war or hate we’ll all be too busy twitting away our lives maybe not a bad trade to make ?

christian April 16, 2009 · 8:40 pm

twitter really bothers me. i think it is this whole idea that the whole world should care about the most mundane details and musings of our lives. sharing ideas is important, essential even. but when these ideas are not about getting us to think, or reconsider things. the central function of twitter seems to be self promotion a parasitic cult of self which feasts on the personality. plus old republicans are its most prominent users.

NOMore Wars April 16, 2009 · 8:56 pm

More ‘marketing’ of another useless ‘must have’ in an already saturated and putrid market.

Americans are all crying about the ‘economy’ and the ‘depression’ we are in, and then the NYT covers a story about something that is only lining the pockets of its creators and the few who consider themselves to be important ‘stars’.

When someone finds a cure for AIDS or cancer- instead of coming up with another ‘campaign’ or ‘ribbon’ or ‘walk’ that provides 10% to its founder and a tax-haven to boot- then perhaps that would be an ‘important’ topic for Ms. O to cover.

Twitter is nothing more than Facebook on crack. Who cares what Ashton Kutcher is doing or with whom? I sure don’t. I don’t really care what Oprah is doing either. She’s completely lost touch with the former ‘weather-girl’ she used to be living in a one-bedroom apartment on the South side of Chicago or Kansas or wherever she lived. And for that matter, I’m still dumbfounded how one goes from ‘weather girl’ to media mogal without some very shady business dealings taking place somewhere. The same is true of Tyra Banks whose a horrible example to way to many impressionable young women, and gay young men, today. Have you ever listed to her try to sound intelligent? It’s hilarious and sad all at the same time. Sad because she makes millions of dollars and for what? Why? How? Twitter about that, twitter about why we need ‘twitters’.

This need to feel ‘connected’ in the digital age is only fueled by the need to feed the egos of these people who must have the latest, greatest, fastest, shiniest, etc…

When will it end? Twitter is for twerps or the rest of the self-appointed/narcissistic/self-indulgent idiots- of which there is no shortage thanks to those such as Ashton Kutcher, Tyra Banks, Miley Cyrus (and can someone tell me why her boyfriend hasn’t been charged with statutory rape of a minor? He’s 20-years-old and she’s 16 right? A minor in every state in the union- only Disney could sweet that small tidbit under the rug), Jonas Brothers, etc… what a farce.

You people are easily bamboozled- but, then probably the same ones who voted for Obama and all his shenanigans.

alewis14151 April 16, 2009 · 8:57 pm

Twitter- n., what to do during Oprah’s show..

JC April 16, 2009 · 9:54 pm

We will all lose our telechanisis abilities.

Anne April 16, 2009 · 9:56 pm

If you feel like twitter is useless, don’t do it. If you think someone is posting mundane details, don’t follow that person. I figure, if people other than my mom want to follow me, and somehow find my updates interesting, that’s their decision! They can un-follow me whenever they choose. It’s sort of like reading headlines from the lives of your friends and other favorite people/groups.

Chloe April 16, 2009 · 10:12 pm

As if Americans do not already collectively suffer from ADD.

SA April 16, 2009 · 11:04 pm

I don’t need twitter to find out what people are thinking. I was at the hair salon today, and I can assure you, it is mostly inane. So, who among us will cure cancer, bring about world peace and write the great American novel of the 21st century? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

@chillami April 16, 2009 · 11:14 pm

I’m fairly new to Twitter and I really didn’t “get it” until I started. I’m not obsessed with it but it really is kind of fun. It’s really not just boring details of people’s lives, people share things of value as well. Like anything, people can take it too far but I’m having fun with it now :-)

Whatsnext April 16, 2009 · 11:24 pm

Read all the posts and I’ve got to say there is truth to pretty much all that was written. My two cents…Twitter, Oprah,etc…pick your poison folks. If you’re reading this then the internet is one of them. I have spent all the time I care to spend this evening on the internet. I am going to do something else…maybe much more productive (read a book, listen to music, write a letter on paper and mail it to a friend. Yeah, good times. Now that you’re done reading this…try it too…turn the computer/phone off…. :)