Yesterday, Twitter was abuzz with the news that Chicago-based Horizon Realty was suing one of its tenants for $50,000 over a single tweet (sent by that tenant to her audience of 20). Regardless of what you think of the lawsuit’s claim*, here’s the really interesting part (from a social media POV):
- News of the lawsuit seems to have been first reported on Monday, July 27
- The story got picked up by Chicago-based Twitterers around 1 AM Tuesday, July 28
- By 11 AM Tuesday, social media-focused Twitterers had discovered the story
- By 3 PM Tuesday, “Horizon Realty” was a Trending Topic
In English, what this means is that a story which initially only affected one person became a “mainstream” (at least in terms of Twitter awareness) issue less than 24 hours after it happened. Not bad for a story that doesn’t feature a dead celebrity.
Of course, this was also the perfect storm of Trending Topic-friendly content, in that it was:
- a story about an underdog being sued by a corporation
- in an American metropolis
- because of Twitter
In fact, I suspect that if the story had been picked up by Chicagoland tweeters around 8 AM (instead of 1 AM, when the bulk of the Twitter audience is drifting to sleep), it would have trended much earlier in the day. That overnight lag delayed Horizon Realty’s momentary spike of ignominity.
The lesson? Unless you’re a dead celebrity or a meaningless hashtag, your fastest way to become famous on Twitter is to sue someone *because* of Twitter. (Or, more practically: it takes less than 24 hours for seemingly insignificant news items to become mainstream Twitter talking points, as long as social media is involved.)
* Side note: for my two cents on the actual Horizon Realty lawsuit, go here.
Tags: legal, Social Media, trending topics, Twitter
