Entertainment

Twitter Proven Not To Be a Waste of Time

by Alida Miranda-Wolff

I hate Twitter, and I'm always looking for excuses to give up and delete my account. However, every time I go to scrub my existence from the Tweetverse, a little voice in my head says, "But what if tweeting leads to your big break?" Well, after today, I can't diss that little voice because Kelly Oxford, Mommy Blogger and Twitter darling, has landed a development deal with Fox.

She's leveraged her Twitter success into a full-blown career, becoming an internationally best-selling author with her essay collection Everything Is Perfect When You’re A Liar and has now landed a sitcom on Fox. The Fox series, like all of Oxford's work, is based on her life experiences. The story will center on a 30-year-old single mother working in a retirement home, and of course, hijinks will ensue.

So, with what dark arts did Oxford become a bona fide Twitter celebrity? If I knew all her secrets, I too would have a Beyonce-like social media presence. But alas, I do not. What I can gauge from her feed, however, is she follows three simple rules.

1) She Posts Regularly

Before she was Twitter famous, Oxford posted to Twitter multiple times a day. Now that she's a big shot Hollywood writer, she still posts regularly, keeping her feed fresh for her hundreds of thousands of followers.

2) She Doesn't Over-Promote

Oxford's tweets are funny observations about her life and the entertainment world, not endless links to her blog, books, or Hollywood gigs. Consequently, people follow her because they feel like she's talking to them, not shamelessly selling herself.

3) She Keeps Her Voice and Persona Consistent

Perhaps Oxford's Twitter strength is her consistency. She is always foul-mouthed, snarky, and quick, whether she's writing about her husband or Julia Roberts. Even when she covered the government shutdown, she was all about the one-liners, not soapbox preaching. Her followers know what to expect when they read her feed, and because they like it, they keep retweeting her, and then buying her books.

In case you aren't one of Miss Oxford's 556,000+ followers, here's what you need to know. The sardonic mom made a name for herself with her much-beloved blog and an explosively popular Twitter account that continuously features enviably clever and honest tweets. Take for example:

So for all you aspiring writers and comediennes out there, now is the time to follow Oxford's example and aggressively build out your Twitter feeds. Yes, that means even those of you (who are like me) and wish it was still 2007 and no one was pressuring you to build a social media following.