I wrote a post for the the good folks at 2AMt.
It starts like this:
I’m not sure who coined the expression “boob tube” but its implication has always been clear to me: people who watch TV are boobs, simpletons, and lack common sense.
Even as a kid, I never really understood this characterization of TV viewers because it was with TV that I first learned to express my autonomy. If I didn’t like what I was watching, I could always turn the channel, turn off the TV, or leave. I wasn’t compelled by the conventions of TV to sit passively and absorb whatever was presented to me. Even as a kid, it seemed to me that only a boob would do something like that.
I thought of this one evening as I sat feeling trapped in a performance I was mostly enjoying. … Read more.
I wasn’t a part of the Twitter conversation that was the catalyst for the hashtag that became the site, but I was tweeting with many of the key players around the time that it all began (Jan 2010). I thought the idea of a hashtag dedicated to a certain kind of conversation was brilliant and I adopted it as soon as I saw it being used. Eventually, a companion site was born.
A year and a half later #2amt is going strong. There are a few familiar avatars but tweeps come and go, appear and reappear, and so long as people respect the one rule that I know — no hard-sell publicity — you are always welcome to participate. The result is a 24-7, international, and theatre-focussed conversation. It is rare the time that I drop into #2amt and don’t find a valuable discussion, resource or idea.
Check it out sometime, even if you don’t care all that much about theatre. 2AMt is an excellent example of what’s truly possible with social media. Search “’2amt” on Twitter, follow along, and find out why.
Wayne C.
June 7, 2011
I check that hashtag frequently. A great success story.
Sterling Lynch
June 21, 2011
Glad to hear it!