This rant is about uniqlos utweet bit and was adapted from an email i just sent round the office.
Usually i’m a big fan of uniqlos digital work but i think the utweet viral(?) is really weak.
“QUICK, let’s cobble something twitter related together, kids love twitter.”
“What should it do?”
“Who cares! Just make it look ENGAGING!”
What annoys me about utweet is that it has basically dressed up the search function of twitter, made it useless and slapped some branded videos in there. The tweets move too fast to read comfortably so its value as a news aggregator is limited. If thought of as a piece of artwork it’s visually pleasing enough, but i can’t see why they bothered with the twitter data other than to say they’ve done a twitter project. Unless i’m missing something…
The calendar project by uniqlo is directly and sensibly tied in with their products. The colours of the freezed frame tie into the colours of the items. The uniqlo clock is designed purely to be admired, with very little interaction, and while this could be said of the utweet site they are very different in their set up. The clock is content to stand on its own merit, happy to be taken at face value and making no pretence of offering more than that which you see. I am asked to interact with utweet to get the ball rolling, and low the barrier for entry is as low as a click, if i am putting something into a system, i want to see the value in what is returned.
The utweet project is chopping static videos together with dynamic content, and as far as i can tell neither the video order or content have any relevance to what has been searched for on twitter. Why would i want to look at this, let alone share it? How has my life been improved by seeing vaguely related tweets whizz past (often in languages i can’t read anyway) and have tshirt designs thrown at me by cavorting hipsters?
The cal gives gorgeous, mellow, quirky videos, weather information and a browsable catalogue. Highly interactive if you chose for it to be, purely aesthetic if not. All that with an innovative new way of browsing clothes, thumbs up!
The uniqlo clock gives you the time, and occasionally a nicely choreographed skit. The time is useful, the skits less so. Let’s face it, we can find the time anywhere, so it’s mostly about the skits and they aren’t kidding themselves about it being anything more than something pretty which could happily sit in the background. As i say, they offered it as a screensaver, a niche it fits into perfectly.
Utweet gives you jovial individuals and a jingle. IF that was all, i wouldn’t feel so annoyed by it, but it’s the fact that it is cobbling on the twitter aspect to supposedly add some value but honestly, what value has been added by this fast moving text? I keep thinking i’ve missed something (have i?), like a hidden door which transports me to a world of worth but i can’t find it 
I think i may be having a hard time splitting between usefulness with artistic merit, but this IS advertising. If i am going to be subject to an advertisement i’d rather it come in the guise of usefulness than art.
… and i hope that clearly explains why my thoughts behind why i think it’s a rushed, poorly thought out example of twitter integration. Social media shouldn’t just be shoved into a project because it’s a hot topic, but because it makes sense to use it.
(Incidentally, i did literally get out of the wrong side of bed this morning, but i felt the same way about it yesterday 
)
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