Ever heard of an alternate reality game? An alternate reality game, or an ARG, is typically an interactive form of advertising that relies upon the user to make choices that somehow impact the outcome of a game. The alternate reality aspect comes in because it relies on players to do things in the real world to impact a fictional thing; a movie release, book release, TV show, etc.
You might have played one and you might have even thought about making one of your own: “I have access to wireless internet providers and I’ve got a great idea!” And that’s usually how it starts. Take, for instance, a scenario in which you have a book. Depending on what the book is about, you have many different routes you could go. You could create a twitter account for the fictional protagonist in your story and have users get to know this character, and the role they will play in the narrative, before the book is even released. If it’s interesting and intriguing enough, your character could have a following by the time the book is released.
And there are many other ways you can use twitter for this purpose. Have fun and play around with it.