Yesterday morning I received an alert that Forbes was launching a contest - via Twitter - to solicit ideas for a Twitter contest that they would run and report on in May.
Of course, nothing gets me excited like a contest. (You may recall the limerick competition.) In fact, within 5 minutes I had my proposal encapsulated in Twitspeak:
Twitter contest for @forbes> a “who dunnit” – each Forbes writer weaves tweet thread of clues, readers guess who. Like Clue. #myforbesidea
A small honour: I was the first to participate. For whatever that’s worth.
I came up with this idea quickly not because I’m some sort of super-power enabled social media wizard (trust me, I’m not), but because of two recent events that were top of mind:
1. Last week friends hosted a murder mystery-themed birthday party, a relatively new experience for me. (The last – and only – murder mystery I attended was in first-year university residence where everyone brought garlic bread to the potluck and the guy who thought he was the murderer mistakenly slipped me the ace of clubs instead of the ace of spades. My dramatic death greatly surprised the organizer who, as I lay on the ground writhing, whispered in a panic “What are you doing?!?! You are not supposed to die!!!!” Everything fell apart after that.)
My friends’ party, however, was well organized and fun. It was interactive and intelligent, forcing participants to speak with other guests, pick up clues to solve the murder, and achieve specific objectives. (I failed to get the jewels, but I did end up with the Kandinsky painting.)
2. Last Friday, designer clothing etailer the Outnet celebrated their first birthday with a $1 sale. Yes – all items in the sale were $1. Although you knew the day the sale was taking place, the time was a secret. So, at 6:47 am ET, all hell broke loose. Unfortunately, I was on my BlackBerry (don’t get me started), so I ended up with an empty basket and lots of aggravation. Still, it was a thrill to be there at the right time.
So why might Forbes benefit from a “murder mystery”-type Twitter contest?
- Murder mystery stories involve multiple characters. It would provide exposure to multiple Forbes/journalists’ Twitter accounts.
- It could encourage community and interactivity among Forbes readers, trying to figure out the solution.
- There is an element of serendipity – not knowing when clues would be posted would encourage repeat visits. (I wouldn’t tie clues to a hashtag – that would be cheating.)
- You could theme it around something relevant to Forbes readers (i.e. who is the culprit behind the sub-prime mortgage meltdown – was it Goldman Sachs with the candlestick in the boardroom?)
- It’s fun.
So, that’s my suggestion for a Forbes Twitter contest. Have any ideas yourself? (If you do, tweet it to @forbes using the hashtag #myforbesidea.) Can you think of reasons why the whodunnit idea wouldn’t work?
