Disney Interacting on Twitter via Direct Messages

I have written previously on how Disney interacts with its followers on Twitter. I first discussed a few @ replies sent from @Disneyland and @WaltDisneyWorld. Then, I highlighted some photos tweeted from the official @DisneyParks account. Over the last few weeks, Disney has been using a new strategy to interact with its followers on Twitter.

About two weeks ago, @DisneyParks tweeted a question asking if any children would be dressing up as official Disney characters. I replied to the tweet and attached a picture of my younger brother and his friend dressed as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell at MNSSHP. I was actually editing photos from our most recent Disney World vacation when I saw the tweet.

Around 5 minutes after sending the tweet, I received an e-mail with this subject line: “Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) has sent you a direct message on Twitter!” Shortly after picking up my jaw, I opened the e-mail to see this message from @DisneyParks:

For whatever reason, the message made my day. I was excited to see that Disney viewed the picture and thought it was cute (honestly, who wouldn’t?), but I was also happy to see this type of interaction from @DisneyParks. If you received a direct message (DM)  from Disney, aren’t you more likely to respond to future tweets? Probably so. I sent out a tweet about receiving the message and heard that a few other people I know also received DMs that day.Very cool!

One of my Twitter buddies told me received several direct messages during a recent trip to Walt Disney World. Here are a few of the messages from @WaltDisneyWorld:

How awesome are these messages? Imagine showing your 8-year-old son that @WaltDisneyWorld wished him a happy birthday. You have to admit… that’s pretty darn cool.

Direct Messages? Why not @ replies?

Some might think Disney should send out @ replies to its followers. While direct messages are only seen by the recipient, a happy birthday message sent as an @ reply could be seen by everyone that follows @WaltDisneyWorld. However, do you really want your personal Twitter feed cluttered with 10-20 personal responses a day from Disney? Probably not. But do you want Disney limiting its interaction because of this fear of cluttering followers’ Twitter feeds? Again, probably not. Because of these two concerns, I see Disney using DMs as the best way to fulfill two goals: interact with followers while also providing relevant tweets through official Disney Twitter accounts. And as always, YMMV. @DisneyParks is obviously not responding to every tweet.

In a July 13th post about the monorail changes and Twitter outrage, I mentioned the possibility of Disney using direct messages to respond to complaints or concerns. While this would also be a good use of DMs, I prefer the “Congrats!” and “Cute!” messages that show @DisneyParks followers the mouse is listening.

COMMENTS:

Have you received a direct message from Disney? What do you think of this strategy? If you received a direct message from Disney, would your opinion about the company change?