By Julie Bort, Network World |

Stone: No official Twitter TV show

Just as he did with the Google rumor before it, Twitter founder Biz Stone ended speculation that Twitter had its own TV show in the works by leaving the door open to a range of TV land possibilities for the microblogging service.

Variety reported that Twitter had a deal with Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment to produce an unscripted reality show that puts "ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format." And that led to several pubs speculating about just what a Twitter branded TV show might look like. Would all the actors be limited to 140-character snippets of dialogue?

In a blog addressing the Variety report, Stone says Twitter isn't really going Hollywood:

"There is no official Twitter TV show—although if there were it would be fun to cast! In dealing with networks and production companies we sometimes have simple agreements. Regarding the Reveille and Brillstein project reported today, we have a lightweight, non-exclusive, agreement with the producers which helps them move forward more freely."

And while that could mean just about anything, the upshot is probably that Twitter will be used as an addendum to the show, maybe allowing viewers to tweet their up-to-the-minute comments and opinions as the live action on the show progresses. Stone offers the example of CNN's use of Twitter and the recent Hack the Debate initiative as other examples.

Such integration of Twitter into a reality TV show actually makes a lot of sense and could be pretty entertaining. Picture it like a Pop-up Video stream, only supplied by viewers and not professional writers or comedians. Wait. Maybe it's not such a good idea.

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