Live interviews on twitter - the 'twinterview'

New day, new fascinating use for twitter. The ‘Twinterview’, a Q&A interview conducted live on twitter.

Unfortunately I didn't catch the live 'twinterview' between @robbrown, author of 'PR and the Social Web' and Peter Hay @PRWExtra, but using the hashtag #PRWInterview I was able to read it later.

Live interviews aren't a new idea. We've been watching them on T.V and listening to them on the radio for years, but I think there are two main differences between those traditional live broadcast interviews and a live interview on twitter.

1) If you say it on the social web, it stays out there for good uncut and unedited.

Traditional broadcast interviews can be cut, edited and destroyed. Of course if someone makes a blunder during a twinterview the offending tweets can be deleted. But if you're tweeting to a live audience they're going to be re-tweeting your answers (as @JonClements did today), tweeting for/against your viewpoints and blogging about the interview. This can't be removed or edited.

2) The audience can participate, invited or not.

T.V. and radio interviews often invite audience questions from live studio audiences, emails, phone-ins and recently even via twitter. But the audience of an interview conducted wholly on twitter can you can comment directly and immediately by adding the agreed hashtag to the end of your comment, allowing anyone following that hashtag to see your comment.

When I googled 'twinterview' one of the results was www.twinterview.co.uk a webpage that claimed they will soon be getting a 'twittering celebrity to agree to being interviewed' so the audience can tweet the questions and the host will put them to the celeb. (Interestingly I also found the below tweet to @stephenfry from @emmacox who appears to work for The Sun, any connection I wonder? Think she's missed the boat for world's first ever twinterview though!)



There's obviously scope for the twinterview to develop. Celebrity interviews would be fun (a kind of Smash Hits 'Biscuit Tin' for the web 2.0 generation),  interviews with PR professionals like Rob are certainly interesting for a PR student like myself and I'm sure we could all think of lots of other uses.

But as Rob acknowledged in the PR week interview there are limitations such as fitting responses into 140 characters with an @reply and hashtag too.

The openness and transparency of a twinterview is a great thing, it allows interactivity, honesty and would give interviewers a prime opportunity to put their interviewee on the spot with awkward questions.

But would the inability to control the audience and the permanency of the record of the conversation scare people off from the twinterview?

For me the idea of the Twinterview raises lots of questions. Can it be a useful tool for journalists? Would it be too risky to allow politicians, representatives from major companies/brands to be interviewed in this way? Can you really answer anything in 140 characters?

I'd love to know what everyone else thinks about twinterviews, so please do comment!

UPDATE: The PRweek article is online here