[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The surge in social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, not to mention text messaging, has made it much harder for studios to persuade consumers that the movies are worth their time.

Translation: It's now easier for people to warn off their friends from Hollyweird crapola.

[abb]

From yesterday’s Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™ thread.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-ae.twitter19aug19,0,7572694.story

Twitter Effect rattles Hollywood
Avalanche of raves or pans can be set off before credits stop rolling

By Michael Sragow | michael.sragow@baltsun.com

August 19, 2009

While word of mouth could always make or break a movie, it usually took days to affect the box office. But the rise of social networking tools like Twitter may be narrowing that time frame to mere hours. And that has Hollywood on edge.

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