Social Networking - A Boon to Some, A Bane to Others

Many industries are singing the praises of social networking forums like Facebook and Twitter, utilizing the sites as a tool for brand marketing and as an idea exchange platform; however evidence that it is a bane to others is becoming evident.

Journalists are garnering readership by Twittering about their articles and blog posts.  Retailers are rewarding their social networking followers with advance sale notices.  Major corporations like Ford, Carnival Cruise Line, and Jet Blue are appearing on the micro-blogging platform (some more successfully than others – see Mashable’s top 40 list HERE) as a way to connect more directly with their customers.

But while the benefit of reaching a wide audience in real time is a boon for many enterprises, the ability to instantaneously blast information to the masses can be injurious to parties on both “sides of the table” when it comes to auditions and casting sessions.

Several months ago, the New York theater community was all abuzz over one young casting director’s Twittering activity during an audition session for a then-upcoming New York Musical Theatre Festival Show.  Her 140-character-or-less comments on actors and their presentation inspired a barrage of debate, some finding humor in the frequently disparaging observations, but most asserting that her Tweets were unbefitting a job interview (which is essentially what an audition is).

The Casting Society of America, while not condoning their member’s actions, took no formal action and left it to the Actors’ Equity Association to decide how to handle the offense.  Initially, the casting director in question claimed “freedom of speech” (via Twitter, of course) in her defense, but after a meeting with AEA, released a statement of atonement.  AEA then said to the media that they believed the matter to be closed.

Similarly, it appears that casting directors and their clients might be wary of unwanted information being posted via social networking tools as well.

One actor reported that, last week, a commercial casting house required those auditioning to sign a confidentiality agreement, stating that the actor would not share audition details in blogs or via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, etc. 

The identity of the casting company is not known and therefore could not be reached for comment:  In keeping with the signed agreement, the actor declined to disclose the company’s name.