VoiceMel

#MelsBBQ 2012 - The Before, or, How an Innocent Hashtag Took on a Life of Its Own

This Sunday (the middle day of Memorial Day weekend), for the third year in a row, I’m going to host a BBQ at the house I rent with two roommates in Los Angeles. It’s not a very big place, so I usually invite a modest number of friends from different cliques (work folk, people I know from New York who also now live in LA, comic book industry friends, geek pals, etc.) to come and join me over charbroiled fare, drinks, and conversation. At last year’s BBQ, a very good friend of mine who also happens to be a celebrity had the idea to create a twitter hashtag for the event: #MelsBBQ. He already had thousands of followers on twitter. Also, that day, skywriters were creating giant X’es inside circles to promote the then upcoming film, “X-Men: First Class,” so when my friend took a photo of it and tweeted it with the caption, “The X-Men logo flies over #MelsBBQ as if to say things are brewing below,” it got a lot of traction and was retweeted many, many times. This, combined with everyone else at the BBQ who was also tweeting with the same hashtag, caused #MelsBBQ to trend in Los Angeles. It instantly caught the eye of many more people, and now this year’s #MelsBBQ is an event that many people are looking forward to because who knows what shenanigans will happen this time? As someone who works in marketing, this is amazing. I’m thrilled people are excited and will use the hashtag throughout the day.

This year, I’m not so sure we can get #MelsBBQ trending again in Los Angeles, but keep your eye on the hashtag this Sunday. You’ll see a lot of fun tweets and pictures, maybe even a video or two. (Last year, my same friend filmed a video of me at the BBQ poorly handling a grill fire that got a ton of views. I can’t seem to find the link to it, unfortunately.) You can enjoy the event vicariously as the day goes on. Look for me to post a report after the event (#MelsBBQ 2012 - The After, additional subtitle to come) to provide you with highlights!