(Just a warning – there’s not a deep thought at the end of this post, and there’s no real estate tie in.)
I am @wheeebacon. And I have been suspended by Twitter.
Turns out, "bacon" is an incredibly popular word on Twitter. And as we discovered when we added Twitter to our IDX, the API is pretty easy to use. So that some talented person in 15 minutes or so could write a simple application that searches Twitter every 30 seconds for the word "bacon" and responds "Wheee! Bacon!"
And it turns out, people love to talk about bacon. And people love to invoke @wheeebacon.
Also turns out, there’s also some limits to how often you can make responses before Twitter rules you spam and suspends your account. In our case, in about an hour. If you’re familiar with @wheeepony and @wheeeunicorn, they’ve been suspended too, as of this writing.
Ah @wheeebacon, we barely knew thee.
We had even programmed it to respond in Spanish if someone said bacon in Spanish.
There is at least one bacon-responder that lives on, @baconbaconbacon. They’ve got a set of several responses and don’t answer every person who invokes the bacon. @Wheeebacon had a better avatar.
There’s probably a lesson in there somewhere.
Maybe something about how to get nearly 50 followers in 15 minutes – talk about things people like.
Or maybe something about showing genuine enthusiasm for what you discuss on Twitter…
Wheee! Bacon!
Ginger Wilcox
January 15, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I am so sad to see the bacon died so quickly. Wheee-Bacon!
Sarah Cooper
January 15, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Maybe the appeal is just in the happy words, “Wheee” and “Bacon” are both winners.
Jonathan Dalton
January 15, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Are they serving wheeebacon sandwiches at the Chick-Fil-A at El Con? 🙂
Matthew Rathbun
January 15, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I am so glad that I actually got bacon today… Sorry for killing your creation 🙁
Matt Stigliano
January 15, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Now it all makes sense. I was wondering why so many people I know on Twitter were talking about bacon nonstop. Suddenly the clouds cleared and I am enlightened.
Missy Caulk
January 15, 2009 at 10:26 pm
ROL
Russell Shaw
January 15, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Kelley, why do say that, “Wheee! Bacon!” is not a deep thought?
Todd Carpenter
January 16, 2009 at 12:32 am
“@Wheeebacon had a better avatar.” << True
teresa boardman
January 16, 2009 at 4:23 pm
LOL never talked about bacon. Think I’ll change some keywords around on the weenie and see if bacon works better than hot dog. Is there such a thing as a bacon stand? There should be. Buh byeeee I have work to do.
Eric Blackwell
January 16, 2009 at 8:51 pm
ROFL…Nicely done, Housechick…nicely done. (grin) Bilingual bacon, no less 😉
Bill Lublin
January 17, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Hole @wheebacon
Adios @wheeBacon
Donde es @wheebacon?
Kelley Koehler
January 17, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Bill – @wheeebacon es no mas. que lastima, no?
Ines
January 18, 2009 at 3:36 pm
and I was sooo looking forward to the whole “tocineta” thing – boooo hooo!
Andy Kaufman
January 19, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Hey T- In the mission district in SF, you can buy bacon wrapped weenies on the street after the bars close.. so there’s your tie-in right there. Need a photo? Just let me know 😉