• by Bryan Boettger , February 14, 2013

OK, that’s it. I’m tired of hearing people talk about Oreo’s Super Bowl tweet.

Not because Oreo’s response wasn’t great. It was. But people are talking about the wrong things. Yes, kudos to the company’s team for responding quickly and for writing engaging copy. After all, they created a graphic and had it posted in less than 15 minutes after the power outage.

The question we aren’t asking: Who actually made the tweet successful?

You see, Oreo had a mere 65,000 followers when the company tweeted “Power out? No problem.” The tweet has since generated about 16,000 retweets and 6,000 favorites off of those 65,000 followers.

Compare that to the most popular tweet by President Obama after the State of the Union address:

RT if you support President Obama's plan to create jobs and grow the middle class. #JobsNow, twitter.com/BarackObama/st…

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 13, 2013

This tweet generated 5,600 retweets and 1,200 favorites off of 27,122,288 followers.

So, Oreo got about three times as many retweets and five times as many favorites as Obama, while Oreo had less than .05% of the President’s followers.

Here’s why the two are worthy of comparison: 1) They both capitalize on a moment in time where the country is united around an event and 2) They both capitalize on the intensity of people’s emotions.

So, why did Oreo’s tweet gain so much more traction compared to the size of the brand’s followers?

The biggest difference: The President’s tweet was spread by average Americans, but Oreo’s tweet was spread by us: ad industry pundits, professionals and news outlets. And it was retweeted by us IMMEDIATELY after it came out.

Do a search for “Power out? No problem.” If you take a look at the people who retweeted the Oreo tweet with the accompanying picture, you’ll find a list like that below. The list shows the time of the tweet, the name of the person, the person’s profession and how much sharing that person’s tweet generated.

Take a look. Notice anything? Nearly everyone is in the marketing profession. So, essentially, we all created the news cycle around Oreo’s tweet. A decent number of people retweeted  it (mainly marketing folks), then AdFreak and 360i retweeted, no doubt accelerating the number of marketing folks exposed to the tweet.

In an age when social media is supposed to help brands connect with average consumers, I find it ironic that the social media industry is what Oreo seemed to connect with most – not average consumers.

Now, some might say I have sour grapes for not being with the agency that made this happen. Not at all. I think Oreo and 360i did an amazing job. They were aware, smart, creative and fast --everything a brand and agency should be.

Here’s the big point: I just question how much the tweet resonated with the general public, compared to resonating with what our industry is craving.

In the meantime, I think Oreo needs to send a year’s supply of cookies to Shauna, the astronomy educator from Washington, D.C., who retweeted at 5:56 PST (a mere eight minutes after the original tweet). You see, Shauna’s is the truly amazing tweet of the Super Bowl.

Her tweet generated 224 retweets -- off of 487 followers. Nearly HALF of Shauna’s audience found her tweet relevant. Now THAT’S amazing.

(And, here, for your viewing pleasure, the breakdown of Top Tweets when you search for “Power out? No problem.”)

5:48 original Oreo tweet goes out (16,064 RTs, 6,157 Fav)

5:48 Ariel, pr professional: 22 RTs, 9 Fav

5:49 Katie, Marketing Manager at 360i (the agency who worked with Oreo to create the tweet): 2 RTs, 2 Favorites

5:49 Michael, some German guy: 28 RTs, 8 Fav

5:50 Rich, Executive Editor at IGN: 22 RTs, 6 Fav

5:51 Katie, copywriter and photographer: 5 RTs, 3 Fav

5:51 Dan, web developer: 15 RTs, 1 Fav

5:51 AdFreak, trade pub: 476 RTs, 106 Fav

5:51 Jon, web developer: 14 RTs, 2 Fav

5:51 Corrie, freelance video production: 11 RTs, 1 Fav

5:51 Zoe, movie journalist: 7 RTs, 4 Fav

5:52 Paul, service industry strategist: 16 RTs, 1 Fav

5:52 Andrea, content marketer: 10 RTs, 1 Fav

5:52 Mark, sourcing coordinator: 15 RTs, 5 Fav

5:52 360i, Oreo's agency: 86 RTs, 31 Fav

5:52 Seamus, social media marketer: 23 RTs, 2 Fav

5:53 Jenn, social media freelancer: 10 RTs, 1 Fav

5:53 Danielle, advertising professional: 6 RTs, 1 Fav

5:53 Awful Ads, trade pub: 5 RTs, 2 Fav

5:53 Lauren, pr profesional: 32 RTs, 5 Fav

5:53 Brian, advertising profesional: 32 RTs, 9 Fav

5:53 Cara, copywriter: 2 RTs

5:53 Heather, pr and social profesional: 161 RTs, 45 Fav

5:54 Stephanie, corporate communications: 116 RTs, 23 Fav

5:54 Ashley, buzzfeed press director: 72 RTs, 11 Fav

5:54 Elyse, social media marketer: 145 RTs, 31 Fav

5:55 Charlie, reporter: 4 RTs

5:55 KT, reporter: 41 RTs, 4 Fav

5:56 Chris, reporter: 38 RTs, 7 Fav

5:56 Janna, social media for Disney: 53 RTs, 14 Fav

5:56 Anthony, reporter: 77 RTs, 15 Fav

5:56 Christopher, actor: 203 RTs, 88 Fav

5:56 Brooke, pr professional: 8 RTs, 1 Fav

5:56 Shauna, astronomy educator: 224 RTs, 59 Fav (487 followers)

5:57 Justin, tv meteorologist: 107 RTs, 21 Fav

5:58 Musa, social media at Nike: 34 RTs, 14 Fav

5:58 Tim, internet marketing consultant: 129 RTs, 22 Fav