A couple days ago I came across this blog post on comedian Jay Mohr’s website in which he declared that he was leaving Twitter because he was getting too much negative harassment from haters. You should read his whole explanation, but here’s an excerpt:

Twitter sucks. It starts as a really amazing social network but slowly and surely becomes an amazingly awful social network. When I signed up for Twitter I was super excited. I wanted to type super funny things. I wanted to hear feedback from fans…okay, screw that…I wanted more followers than other comics. If you are a comic, that is truly the perverse joy of twitter. I could tweet the noblest or funniest 124 character bon mots in the world but they wouldn’t rent space in my brain at night as much as, “How do the Sklar Brothers have over a hundred thousand followers?” (I think they are hysterical by the way)

He went on to say…

I don’t think it is a particularly good idea to have a social media sight where ANYONE can tell me I suck. Many of the trolls tell me that I should have thicker skin. No. No I shouldn’t. When I am coming home from the beach and smiling and happy, I should be able to check my twitter account without reading that a movie of mine is on Showtime4 and it sucks a bag of donkey balls. There is no reason anyone should have that type of accessibility to anyone else.

When I read that, here’s a few of the words that come to my mind: Foolish, short-sighted, petty, wrong, and stupid. I know that seems harsh, but sorry, that’s how it comes across to me.

Mohr’s decision to abandon Twitter is bad enough, but his reasons for it and his decision to spell out those reasons in this blog post are even worse. Here’s why:

It sounds like the main reason that Jay is bailing on Twitter is because he didn’t like a lot of the feedback he gets from it. I’m sure it gets annoying hearing people tell you that you suck, but isn’t that what heckling is? If he were performing at a show and people didn’t laugh, or they heckled him, I assume he’d handle it and move on. I don’t think he’d “quit,” walk off stage, and never come back.

Like it or not, the world has changed and audiences can now react to your creations through social media – whether you’re actually on social media or not. Just because Jay abandons Twitter, it doesn’t mean that people who hate his movies are going to stop posting Tweets saying that they hate his movies. All that he does by leaving is ensure that that his voice is less heard.

For example, now the only things that will be said about Jay Mohr on Twitter are by other people – he no longer has his own voice to allow people to make their own opinions about him.

Making it even worse is the fact that by abandoning Twitter, he’s taken away one of the easiest ways for the people who love him to reach out to him and interact with him. Essentially, he’s punished his fanbase in a screwed-up attempt to punish the people who hate him. The people that hate him won’t suffer by him leaving Twitter, the people who love him will. It’s a completely backwards decision.

In fact, if you look at the couple comments left on his blog post from his fans, they almost unanimously are disappointed that he’s leaving Twitter. For example, one fan says “…your fans will miss the interaction…,” and another says, “I’m a big fan who signed up on twitter just to find out when you host the Jim Rome show…”

Finally, what kind of message does it send to your fanbase when you announce that you’re leaving Twitter because a few people were saying bad stuff about you? Here’s what it says: that you’re extremely thin-skinned, that there must be a lot of people out there that don’t like you, that you care more about those people than your fans, and (hypothetically) that maybe your fans should reconsider why they like you when so many other people don’t? It’s just all bad across the board.

Now, I don’t intend this post to bash Jay Mohr – I don’t know him personally and have no grudge against him. Actually, I feel bad for him because there was nobody around him to explain to him why this was such a bad idea. I don’t believe that anybody has to be on Twitter if they don’t want to be, and it’s not going to make or break your career. However, I can guarantee you that going on Twitter and then bailing in a public fashion and crediting your departure to your haters is definitely not a good idea.

Do you agree? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments…

Every Friday I break down the 10 things I think you most need to see this week, including a mix of posts on this site and other stuff from around the web that I think should be on your radar. Here’s this week’s countdown…

10. A 54-Minute Discussion About How Comedians Should Approach Their Career

This Connected Comedy post features an audio clip of an interview I did with comedian Jordan Cooper in which we talk about a wide range of challenges and opportunities that comedians face.

9. Netflix Announces Its First Original Programming

Deadline.com breaks the story that Netflix is getting into the original content business, which could potentially result in a huge shift in the way the entertainment industry operates.

8. 5 Free Tips For Booking Your Own Comedy Tour

In this Connected Comedy post, I offer some advice to a comedian who’s gearing up to try to book his first national tour on his own.

7. A Look At How Direct-To-Fan Marketing Can Work

This Hypebot article features a behind-the-scenes look at a direct-to-fan marketing campaign that’s being used to break a new music act, but it’s very relevant to the way I believe comedians should be approaching their careers as well.

6. How A Reader Worked A Connected Comedy Tip Into His Act And Got Great Results

Comedian Ray Harrington implemented one of the things I recommended in this post, and shares the story of its success.

5. The Winners Of New York’s Excellence In Comedy Awards

The Comic’s Comic breaks down this year’s winners.

4. Ben Franklin’s Daily Schedule

Over on the Connected Comedy Tumblr page, I shared this photo of Ben Franklin’s daily calendar – it might give you a little inspiration.

3. How To Get 100 New Fans To Your Website Every Day

The Promote Your Music blog has an interesting post full of suggestions for how you can get some free traffic to your website.

2. The Biggest Misconception About How To Use Twitter

In this Connected Comedy post, I explain how you can get more out of your time spent on Twitter if you use it in the right way.

1. How To Add Clickable Links To YouTube Videos

This video has a demonstration of a cool trick you can use to add clickable links to any YouTube video that you embed anywhere outside of YouTube itself.

Looking for more? Check out my previous Connected Countdown posts.

I’ve written a bunch of posts about how to use Twitter including this breakdown of How To Get More Twitter Followers. But I wanted to take a minute today to address what I see as the biggest misconception people have about how to use Twitter effectively. Here it is…

Twitter works best when you use it to talk with people as opposed to talking at people.

Here’s what I mean:

Too often people view Twitter as a tool they can use to blast out messages to their followers and ask them to do things for them. Watch my video, come to my show, read this funny observation I have and tell me how great I am, etc.

Sure, Twitter can be used for all of those things, but that’s not really how it works best and it’s also not the best way to increase your number of followers.

My guess is that if you’re using Twitter like this, you’re also not really sure what (if anything) you’re getting out of Twitter because it seems like you’re just talking to nobody. Inevitably, people who use Twitter like this get frustrated and eventually abandon the service.

But here’s what I would suggest you try instead…

Instead of thinking of Twitter as a place where you’re going to talk at people, see what happens if you use it as a place to interact with people who share similar interests. Try to make approximately 80% of your tweets interactive – either asking questions, responding to other people’s Tweets, or re-tweeting something great that somebody else said. It’s fine to post some of your own comments or promotional stuff, but try to limit that to about 20% of your Twitter output.

Think about how you would use Twitter if your goal was to get as many people as possible to reference your @name in a tweet of their own. Sure, things like #FollowFriday are great for that, but the easiest way to get somebody to reference you is to ask them a question or reply to something they’ve said. Remember, every time that somebody replies to you, all of their followers are being exposed to your Twitter account. Not only that, but they’re being introduced in a way that suggests that their friend thinks you’re worth interacting with already. That’s a powerful endorsement.

I also highly recommend using Twitter search to find people who are not already following you, but are talking about things that you’re interested in, and reaching out to them to engage them. Remember, you can reply to anybody on Twitter and they will see it – even if they’re not yet following on you.

You’ll be amazed at how often somebody that doesn’t even know you (yet) will reply to you and then follow you if you interact with one of their tweets in an entertaining way.

If you try these things I’ve mentioned and change your approach to Twitter, I think you’ll find a couple good things will happen.

• You’ll get more followers because more people will be exposed to your account.

• The followers you already have will pay more attention to your tweets because they’ll get in the habit of actually interacting with you.

• You’ll have a lot more fun and a lot less frustration using Twitter.

Here’s a small example of what this can look like, as demonstrated in a simple question I tweeted last week that I thought my existing followers might want to discuss:

Sure enough, one of my followers responded to me:

That guy has more than 1,200 followers who now saw my Twitter name in their feeds.

Then, four more of my followers responded to my question:

As you can see, the simple act of me asking a question on Twitter got my account exposed to a lot of new people. And I then went on to Retweet some of these responses, or reply to them to further the conversation which also further cemented my relationship with the people who had answered. This encourages them to answer again in the future, and to continue to pay attention to the things I tweet.

Plus, it’s a lot more fun than just talking at people and feeling like nobody reads what I tweet. Try it, I think you’ll agree.

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This past Friday night, Comedy Central debuted a unique special called Mash Up, which featured a blend of standup, re-enactments of jokes, and other random video sketch pieces. It’s really unlike anything else I’ve seen on Comedy Central and I highly recommend you check it out when they inevitably rerun it.

I was particularly interested in Mash Up, because I played a small role in its creation and I think its mere existence can teach you a lot about how the business is changing.

Way back in 2006-ish, I was producing standup comedy tours. One of these tours was the High Times Comedy Tour, and when we decided to take the show to Chicago I went to the Internet to find a local comedian to be the opening act on the show.

I don’t remember exactly how I found them – maybe it was a Google search, maybe it was a local Chicago comedy blog, but I came across a group of Chicago comedians who were calling themselves Blerds (short for Blog-Nerds).

I found my way to the group’s website and discovered a huge collection of talent. Blerds consisted of 12 standup comedians who had teamed up with a filmmaker and launched a site where they all posted blog entries and videos that were shot by a young talented filmmaker named Jordan Vogt-Roberts. Here’s an example of one of their videos from that time:

At the time, the comedians were virtually unknown to anybody outside of Chicago comedy groupies, but now I bet you’ll recognize a lot of the guys as some of the fastest rising stars in comedy today. Kyle Kinane, TJ Miller, and Kumail Nanjiani are just a few of the group members who have gotten a ton of attention in the past couple years.

I wound up booking TJ Miller on our show, and meeting with the rest of the group while I was in Chicago. I thought they had a ton of potential and could use a little guidance, so I started working with the group as a producer and with a couple of the guys as their manager.

I helped Blerds spread the word about what they were doing – we took their videos off Quicktime and uploaded them to YouTube and MySpace (hey, it was 2007) where they were more likely to be seen and shared.

I helped them set up showcases in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Improv and UCB Theater, and invited industry people to come see what they were up to.

And I helped them craft web series pitches in the hopes of finding somebody to pay them to produce content.

Sure enough, things started happening for the guys as a group and as individuals. Suddenly, “Hollywood” knew about them. I helped them sell two different web series pilots to Warner Bros. and Comedy.com, and the UCB Theater showcase turned into a monthly show. Their videos took off online, generating millions of views, they got booked at HBO’s Vegas Comedy Festival and the guys started moving to LA and NY to capitalize on all the “heat” they received.

I’m not about to pretend that this all happened because of me – these guys are super talented and it would have happened anyway. But I’d like to think I was at least able to help them speed up that process by working with them to use online tools to grow their fanbase, get attention, and jumpstart their careers.

Eventually, Blerds disbanded and while all the guys have remained great friends and collaborators, they each went off in their own direction to pursue their individual careers. I’ve been thrilled to remain friends with them, and we still find the occasional project to work on together.

So what does any of this have to do with Mash Up? Well, Mash Up was directed by the Blerds director, stars several Blerds comedians, features the same re-enactment videos that were Blerds trademarks, and even feature some videos that were first seen in those initial UCB showcase shows.

In a lot of ways, Mash Up is a Blerds special, just with a different name.

Ok, so why should you care about this beyond humoring me as I take a fun trip down memory lane?

The mere existence of this Comedy Central special demonstrates the impact that teaming up with other comedians, embracing online marketing for your content, and working to create something different and unique can have on your career.

Plenty of comedians have bubbled on to Hollywood’s radar in the past couple years, but most didn’t get an hour Comedy Central special like this – only Blerds did. And the reason is because of the work they started doing way back in 2006, when most comedians thought the secret to Internet success was to buy a MySpace friend adder.

A couple years from now, somebody reading this is going to get a Comedy Central special. And I guarantee you it will be in small part because they’re paying attention and making an effort to take advantage of the amazing opportunities the Internet can provide a comedian.

I hope a couple years from now when your Comedy Central special debuts, I’ll get to write an article about how it all began for you when you read this post.

Here’s the guys who made up Blerds. They’re all hilarious – go check out their stuff.

Pat Brice (R.I.P.)
Mike Bridenstine
Mike Burns
Nate Craig
Sean Flannery
Mike Holmes
Kyle Kinane
Jared Logan
TJ Miller
Kumail Nanjiani
CJ Sullivan
Prescott Tolk
Jordan Vogt-Roberts

And here’s a video that Jordan made to screen at a Blerds roast, where the guys officially declared the end of Blerds.

Every Friday I break down the 10 things I think you most need to see this week, including a mix of posts on this site and other stuff from around the web that I think should be on your radar. Here’s this week’s countdown…

10. 5 Reasons You Should Curate As Much As You Create

One of the more popular posts I’ve written here on Connected Comedy, in this post I break down exactly why you should think of yourself and what you do online differently than you probably do at the moment.

9. Funny Or Die Launches A Sketch Contest And Gets Into The Book Business

This post from The Comic’s Comic (a site you should definitely be reading) breaks down some news from Funny or Die including the revelation that they’re now looking to develop and publish humor books.

8. 5 Free Tips For Comedian And Writer Ross “Teddy” Craig

In this Connected Comedy post, I give some advice to a Scottish comedian looking to get more work writing for TV.

7. Jonah Peretti Explains Viral Media

I’ve written about Jonah Peretti before, but this Business Insider post breaks down a recent presentation he gave that really includes some great insight into what makes content go viral.

6. Why I Launched A Connected Comedy Tumblr And What You Can Find There

In this Connected Comedy post, I explain my decision to launch a Connected Comedy Tumblr page and why you may want to consider launching one as well.

5. Gil Ozeri’s Two And A Half Men Marathon

Comedian Gil Ozeri pulls off an amusing stunt by forcing himself to sit through a marathon of Two and a Half Men episodes and detailing the results.

4. Why You Should Use A Facebook Fan Page Instead Of A Group

In this Connected Comedy post, I explain the reasons every comedian should have a Fan Page on Facebook.

3. CBS News Goes Behind The Scenes At Funny Or Die

It’s somewhat of a puff piece, but Katie Couric sits down with the crew at Funny or Die to discuss how the site and company works.

2. Not All Fans Are Created Equal – The 4 Types Of Fans

In this Connected Comedy post, I break down the four types of fans you may have and explain how you can convert fans into more valuable types of fans.

1. How To Go Viral

This post from the Music Tank blog is theoretically for musicians, but it’s just as applicable for comedians. Especially notable is the list of adjectives mentioned and the suggestion that if you’re video matches three of them, it will usually work.

Thanks for another week of reading Connected Comedy. If you like what you see, please take a moment to go subscribe and join our community.

As great a tool as Facebook is, one thing that Mark Zuckerberg and company don’t do well is explain to users which of their services best suit their needs. For comedians, this leads to a lot of confusion about whether you should have a Facebook Fan Page, a Facebook Group, or just use your personal Facebook profile page to promote your projects. I believe there’s a clear answer to this confusion and it’s that you should be using a Fan Page – here’s a couple reasons why…

Facebook Fan Pages Allow For Unlimited Fans

I know lots of comedians who use their personal profile pages as their primary Facebook presence and that’s usually fine..until they discover that you’re only allowed to have a maximum of 5,000 “friends” on your personal profile. And Facebook Groups are only allowed to have 1,000 members. This may not seem like a problem if you’re just starting out, but it ultimately will become a big problem and is the number one reason why you need to create a Fan Page in addition to your personal profile.

When you eventually hit the 5,000 friend limit on your personal profile, you’ll have no choice but to start another page and then you’ll have multiple pages to update and a lot of confusion. You’re much better off driving people to connect with you on your Fan Page from the start.

You Can Run Ads Targeted To Fans Of Your Page

I’ve written before about how helpful Facebook ads can be, but one of the things that I haven’t yet mentioned (though it’s coming in a future post) is the value of running ads targeted only to fans of your Facebook Fan Page. For example, if you’ve got a new album out you may want to run an ad targeted to your existing fans. Or if you’re playing a live show in a particular city, you may want to run an ad targeted to your fans in that city.

In order to do these things, you have to have a Fan Page – you can’t target Facebook ads based on your personal profile page or Facebook Groups. Again, you may not think that running ads targeted to your fans if something you’ll ever do, but you never know and you’ll probably want to have that option at some point.

Your Status Updates Go To (Almost) Everybody’s Feeds

If you’re using a Facebook Group, you don’t have the ability to post status updates that appear in your fans’ news feeds. While I’ve written before that status updates on Facebook Fan Pages are far from perfect, it’s nonetheless helpful to be able to reach a lot of people with one quick update as opposed to a group page where you have to individually message people and/or hope they just happen to return to your Group page.

Need some help setting up an effective Facebook Fan Page or getting more fans? Email me to find out how else I can help you.