By Natalie Myers, Reporter
I am a huge fan of the AMC television series Mad Men -- a drama about the ad men and women of Madison Avenue in the 1960s. That's why a blog post about the shutdown of Mad Men Twitter feeds caught my eye.
Apparently, fans were posing as Mad Men characters, creating Twitter profiles for them, and posting regular Twitter updates. AMC asked Twitter to shut down the feeds, which angered fans.
Here's an excerpt from the Reuters' article:
“Although anybody can legally pretend to be any made-up character, Twitter could be in violation of AMC's trademark if its presentation successfully confuses readers as to whether the feeds are endorsed by the network. Still, sources said that AMC still is looking into the matter and noted that some executives at the network recognize the value of the feeds."
Later, AMC revoked the request, allowing the feeds to continue. I think this leads to some fundamental conclusions about the ways brands should view social media avenues like Twitter.
1. As long as consumers aren’t being profane, inappropriate or otherwise offensive to others and the brand, what can their involvement hurt?
2. Social media avenues work best when minimally policed.
3. It’s free no-effort viral marketing for the brand.
Thanks to David Lidsky, Senior Editor of Fast Company, for blogging about this. I wouldn’t have seen it otherwise.
Useful Links Related to this Article TwitterMad MenFans atwitter over shutdown of "Mad Men" feedDon Draper's Twitter feedBetty Draper's Twitter feedPeggy Olsen's Twitter feed:Pete Campbell's Twitter feed:Lidsky Lodge 
I think the other lesson here is what AMC should have done is started doing it themselves when the show started. If they knew their audience well, they would know that this show has a big following among marketing and PR types, and marketing and PR types are big users of Twitter. So, if you want to engage your audience, using Twitter would be a natural move.