Twitter: Masters of the Media Spotlight

If you’re at all interested in Twitter, Danny Sullivan’s blog post and video clips of an interview done with Biz Stone are a must-read and must-watch.

While there’s room for plenty of commentary about Stone’s views on real-time search, SMS and advertising, what struck me is how Twitter has done such an impressive job of keeping itself in the news (mainstream media and blogosphere) over the past few months.

Wherever you turn, Stone, Evan Williams or Jack Dorsey are talking about Twitter and how the company’s plans to evolve strategically. There’s an enormous appetite for information about Twitter, and the three amigos are happy to talk..and talk…and talk.

In a sense, they are doing a masterful job of manipulating the media – and I don’t mean that in an evil way. What Stone, Williams and Dorsey are doing is feeding the fire that’s raging, and keeping the embers red-hot as the company continues to grow and determine just how it’s going to make money.

This can be a tricky balancing act because every story eventually loses steam. You can only listen to someone talk or so long before your mind starts wandering to the next sexy story. Yet, the Twitter story shows no signs of losing its media/blogger momentum.

Some of it may have to do with the fact Twitter continues to be a fascinating phenomena, not just the ultra-growth but how it has become the new e-mail and spawned hundreds, if not thousands, of third-party applications to feed the proverbial fires.

Second, Stone, Williams and Dorsey come across as regular guys – confident, enthusiastic and excited but not cocky or arrogant. They’re telling a good story in a compelling way.

What’s interesting is despite how much talking the Twitter Boys are doing, they’re talking to the media and bloggers rather than appearing at many conferences. Clearly, they would be an amazing draw for any conference so it’s interesting they have taken a selective approach. (Disclaimer: We’ve invited them to the mesh conference but were very politely turned down).

More: Speaking of Twitter keeping itself in the spotlight, Variety has a story on Twitter creating a TV series.

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