Yesterday I had one of those hand-to-forehead moments. “Why didn’t I think of that?!!!”
Over the weekend an Egyptian Cobra snake disappeared at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, and as a 21st Century snake it decided to tweet its adventures – see @BronxZoosCobra. So far it has gone on the Sex and the City tour, visited Wall Street, scarfed down a cupcake at @magnoliabakery, and had other fun. Since Monday (March 28, 2011), it has amassed tens of thousands of followers. Impressive.
What if the Bronx Zoo beat this snake to the punch and started tweeting from the cobra’s perspective? While the tweets would definitely have to reference Charlie Sheen (duh!), report celebrity sightings, and banter with local journos, the cobra could also sneak back into the zoo to visit its animal pals, get some pop corn, cotton candy, or popiscles, or take advantage of buying discounted admission (on its iPhone as not to tip off scare a human cashier).
Don’t get me wrong. Cobras can be deadly, and they frighten many of us when we encounter them in person. Further, it may not be wise for a tsunami, earthquake, or other disaster – man-made or natural – to start tweeting witty remarks, but in this case when a snake on the town is not a disaster or likely threat to anyone, an organization (the zoo or another related organization) could capitalize upon such an occurrence to capture the attention of tens of thousands of people and get some media coverage.
In fact, @SpaSally alerted the cobra to a spa deal, and it accepted the deal!
Earlier this year a hawk visited the Library of Congress. What if the library of staffers started to impersonate it on Twitter? Imagine the tweets:
The library could have capitalized on their guest. Just as the Bronx Zoo could capitalize on its escapee.
It takes a little creativity and speed to beat those clever people out there on-line, but organizations can turn annoyances like these events into something positive.
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