"Mad Men" Twitter Fan Phenomenon Ends (and then comes back!) Due to Copyright Act

Earlier this week I was happy to report that Mad Men’s characters had joined Twitter, with the help of some fans with a lot of time on their hands. This morning I was disappointed to see "Paul Kinsey," a copywriter on the show whose account hadn't yet been deactivated, had Twittered: “Our days on Twitter are numbered, my friends http://tinyurl.com/5bm8t.”

Last night some of the more notable characters’ pages were suspended. VentureBeat reports action was taken by Twitter, not because of spam regulations, but because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). I have not yet received confirmation from AMC that the accounts were indeed suspended at AMC’s request but “Paul Kinsey,” whose Twitter page was created by Mario Parisé, has come clean and posted a link to his blog in which he explains he created the account after seeing “Don Draper” and “Peggy Olson” had started to Twitter and even alerted AMC about what he had done, offering to either deactivate the account or hand it over. Understanding the reasons for the deactivation but disappointed action had been taken, he says “Thanks for the fun!”

Understandably, the network would want to have control over the “free” promotion it had been receiving especially since many of the characters’ followers assumed the accounts were maintained by AMC (they weren’t). It is my hope that AMC will realize the following the show had on Twitter and consider maintaining the accounts.

8/27/08 Update: Don Draper and Joan Holloway are once again Twittering! According to Silicon Alley Insider, the fan accounts were restored yesterday after Deep Focus, AMC's web marketing company, advised the network that the fans who had created the character pages should be thought of as "brand ambassadors" rather than copyright violators. Kudos to both AMC and Deep Focus for (eventually) embracing fan enthusiasm!

After Don Draper's account (@don_draper) was restored, he said (in true Don Draper style), "Doing what I do best - moving forward with my life like today never happened."