One advantage of spending time on this “Twitter” thing that all journalists have suddenly discovered is that you can stay appraised, at any time, of what topics are “trending” on the site—what matters are plaguing the universal subconscious of the world, or, at least, that portion of the world blowing its time on Twitter. Swine flu. The other name for swine flu. Cinco de Mayo.
This afternoon, out of nowhere, “KFC” leaped up to the top of the trending list. What was it? Was there some horrible poultry-related accident? Chicken flu? No, as it turns out, Oprah, or rather @oprah, just offered everyone in America a free chicken dinner.
I sometimes hesitate to post about events that so clearly promote a particular business. But this is already on Oprah, so who am I kidding? I suppose it’s an appropriately Depression-chic giveaway, and cheaper to fulfill than the “car in every garage” half of the slogan. Though I’d have preferred a sweater cape.