As a Pulp fan, I’m very excited that the Sheffielders have once again joined forces to pump out their Brit pop belters across the world. I’ve signed up to the newsletter and am following them on Twitter in eager anticipation for when they announce some further UK tour dates (I have it on good authority that there will be at least one Sheffield date, which I’m determined to get tickets for).
But, alas, it is their presence on Twitter which fills me with disappointment.
Now, if you’re a social media user, then you don’t need me to tell you what a wonderful tool it is for people to interact and engage with others. One of the beautiful things about the likes of Twitter is that it allows us ‘mere mortals’ to speak directly to musicians, artists and bands without having to linger by back stage doors, stalking them. We can tell them that their new album is ‘sick’, gush over how amazing their gig was last night or offer them some constructive criticism on their terrible new album, all directly through our smartphone or laptop. We can praise and diss the rich and famous while multi-tasking – isn’t technology a wonderful thing?
Of course, that’s not to say that we should expect any sort of interaction back from them…they are after all busy people – and as someone who works in PR, I know only too well that many Twitter accounts will be handled by a publicist or marketing bod.
But there are certain levels of interaction that you may be forgiven to expect…
I’m clearly not the only Pulp fan out there who is excited about the reunion of the band and its current international tour. On last count, the @Pulp2011 had 8,615 followers and appeared on 253 lists. Pretty decent figures. Until you look at the other side of things, that is. At the time of writing this blog post, @Pulp2011 had tweeted only 41 times (its first tweet was 1st January 2011) and is following exactly zero people. Yes, zero. Nil, sip, zilch, nought.
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| Tweet tweet...Pulp is a selfish Twitter lover |
As I’ve already alluded to, you wouldn’t necessarily expect a band like Pulp to interact and engage with every single one of its followers or every person who mentions them. However, I can’t help but think that this is a huge opportunity missed for the band in terms of social media.
Looking through the selection of tweets in its timeline, I strongly suspect there is a marketing person, manager, or parent/child/partner/roadie tweeting on behalf of the band. But whoever is responsible for the band’s social media, it is such a lacklustre attempt at using digital channels that it suggests that either they can’t be arsed, or they really just don’t ‘get’ social media.
What do you think? Are there any bands or musicians using social media who you think Pulp could learn a thing or two off?
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