Buy your theatre ‘tweet seats’ today. Really?

I saw this tweet asking whether or not people would welcome the concept of tweet seats and subsequently read the article it pointed to. Naturally, I had to investigate further.

Would you welcome ‘tweet seats’ in theatres? | Poll keruff.it/zhj0lH | Guardian

— Technology (@keruff_tech) March 6, 2012

 

Have we really reached this place in our social media evolution? Is this direction we want it to go? I am rather hesitant, but it appears to be a growing trend within the United States.

Live theatres in that country increasingly have a special section devoted to those who wish to tweet during the show. This is definitely an unexpected turn of events. Even more startling is that these seats appear to be growing in popularity!

These “tweet seats” first emerged in the late 2000s when the Lyric Theatre in Kansas reserved 100 tweet seats for its performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore”. Audience members in these seats were given special permission by the theatre’s director to tweet absolutely anything about the show while it was being performed. These tweets could cover anything from the scenery to an off note struck in the third scene by the leading lady.

Since then, more and more theatres in the States have reserved sections for would be tweeters and have even gone so far as to encourage those in these seats to openly ask questions to the production and the theatre itself. The theatres then intend to use this information to better the experience of those attending their shows.

Of course there needs to be a few guidelines for allowing cellphones to be on in a performance. Some of which include:

1. No taking of or making calls during the performance.
2. No videos to be taken during the performance.
3. All devices must be on silent so as not to disturb the performance.

Where is the line?
I can see a great many benefits from the theatres point of view for allowing tweet seats.

1. Theatres can appeal to a younger “always on” demographic and ensure continuity of the theatrical arts.
2. Theatres can use the information to understand which shows are doing well and where shows need to be changed etc.
3. Word-of-mouth means that every tweeter’s followers will be exposed to the show and could potentially become an audience member.
4. Show reviews can hit the streets even before the curtain call.

But at the same time, there is just so much wrong with it:

1. The purists will certainly be put off.
2. How do they ensure that everyone adheres to the “silent mode” guideline?
3. Show reviews can hit the streets even before the curtain call (this is a pro and a con)
4. The clicking of keypads can be incredibly annoying to those around the tweet seats trying to concentrate on the performance.

My most serious concern though would be: have we really grown to such a point where we cannot help but share — as if by compulsion — every waking second of our day? Is it no longer enough just to share that we are attending a theatre production by way of status update, to check-in when we arrive, to write a self-involved blog about it when we leave? Now we need to tell everyone our thoughts and feelings as we are watching it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on whether you think this is a good idea or not. Please comment in the space provided below. Or you can tweet about every paragraph while you are reading this article.