I Hate Jill Zarin
Patti Stanger's Millionaire Matchmaker debuts its new season tomorrow tonight and I really am predicting her ratings have plummeted after her vicious attack on Bethenny Frankel. Stanger was relentless with her nasty comments and vile language. Stanger tweeted that she couldn't understand why everyone was on Team Bethenny and included, "any cow and squeeze out a baby".
Patti also spoke her mind when having lunch with Kim Zolciak of The Real Housewives of Atlanta as they were clearly aware of the cameras filming their discussion, this immediately after the announcement that Bethenny Frankel will get her own show on Bravo:
Listen as Patti Stanger is on the phone, you will hear Stanger call Bethenny a "C U Next Tuesday" while talking on the phone with Jill Zarin about Bethenny's new show, hearing from Zarin that Bethenny's been replaced by Sonja Morgan (which we know did not happen) followed by Stanger's brilliant insight into how television pilot's work and how likely it is that Bethenny's show will fail. The genius Kim Zolciak adds her two cents, "She's a bitch" referring to Bethenny. Time to eat those words Stanger!
Stanger's now ex-employee Chelsea speaks out about the real Patti Stanger:
I just cannot see how Millionaire Matchmaker can have any fans left, the way that Stanger treats the ladies on the show coupled with how she belittles and badgers her clients, it is truly unbearable to watch. Stanger's voice and the way that she screams and verbally abuses people is absolutely ridiculous.
Michaele Salahi's mother speaks ...
@politico Michaele Salahi's mom: Money problems are Tareq's - KARIN TANABE | POLITICO CLICK http://politi.co/a2xt1i
I wanted to talk a little bit about Twitter, the Housewives and other Bravo cast members use Twitter to keep in touch with fans, promote their wares and television appearances as well as to keep themselves relevant during their "off" season.
Twitter can be a good judge of popularity, based on each of the housewives followers, you can get a good idea of their fan base. Obviously not all Bravo viewers use Twitter, but it seems the housewives with the biggest Twitter following are the more popular "Stars". There is another factor, it seems as though Bravo strongly encourages the Housewives to maintain a Twitter account, no one can force the ladies to use it. Some Housewives prefer Facebook and post there frequently avoiding Twitter.
Smart Housewives combine their Twitter and Facebook accounts and can post something onto Facebook that will automatically Tweet the same post onto their Twitter account, thus killing two birds with one stone. That alone isn't enough, however, fans are looking for some interaction between the Housewives and real people.
The Real Housewives of DC are still working on getting a following, I can only see their Twitter followers falling drastically unless Bravo announces a season two of the series, here are the followers for the DC Ladies:
Cat - 1820
Lynda - 2205
Stacie - 2989
Michaele - 3635
Mary - 4560
With the exception of Michaele, the DC housewives are pretty good at responding to and even following some fans. Michaele follows only four people on Twitter and speaks to no one. The four that Michaele follows are 1. Oasis Winery 2. Attorney Lisa Bloom 3. BravoTV 4. Andy Cohen. She tweets her public appearances and anything that will promote herself but not once has she ever tweeted directly to a fan.
The New York crew has had a lot of time to gain followers and without exception, these ladies talk to their fans:
Sonja - 26,000
Kelly - 41,000
Alex - 54,000
Ramona - 59,000
Jill - 96,000
Bethenny - 297,000
Obviously Bethenny has the largest following of any housewife on any franchise, not a surprise. Bethenny also knows how to use Twitter to her best advantage. She has a good variety of Tweets including responding to fans, funny tweets about her life and links to recipes on her web site. No doubt that you're more likely to get a response from Bethenny if you mention her products, Skinnygirl Margarita's or one of her books or work out video but she sprinkles in responses to fans about various things.
If some of the other housewives would take a lesson from Bethenny, they would be able to get the best results from Twitter and from Facebook. Bethenny has also mastered Facebook and she recognizes that many people use both applications. Her Facebook and Twitter posts are not just copies of one another, she posts similar information but it is unique to each site. It is possible that Julie is doing the Facebook posting but Bethenny's Tweets are all her own.
Some of you may remember my post about New York's wanna be housewife, Jennifer Gilbert. Jen was new on Twitter and completely lost, not knowing what to do or who to talk to, she was sending private direct messages to fans when she clearly meant to tweet to these people publically. She was asking for help as fans were telling her off for her improper use of direct messages, people could not respond because Jen wasn't following them. At the time Jennifer was still campaigning to get more air time on Bravo's Real Housewives of New York. I offered to help her after she sent me a direct message that I could not respond to because she wasn't following me. She clicked the follow next to my name and we chatted for almost two hours privately. She asked for help and I gave her a quick tour of how Twitter works, I also recommended that she read some of Bethenny's tweets and get an idea of how well she uses Twitter to her advantage.
Shortly thereafter, Jill got a hold of Jennifer Gilbert and I was unceremoniously unfollowed and ignored by Gilbert from that point on, coincidently she failed to become a full time New York housewife.
The most popular group of Housewives on Twitter (and in the Bravo ratings) are the Atlanta Housewives. Their numbers are substantially higher than any of the other groups. This could be partially because Atlanta fans use Twitter more than New York's fans and are more computer savvy, here are their numbers:
Phaedra - 7,800
Sheree - 57,000
Kim - 94,000
NeNe - 169,000
Kandi - 214,000
Kandi uses the internet perhaps the best of them all! Kandi has an internet TV podcast that she produces weekly called Kandi Koated Nights and she has a "posse" that joins her for this fun and informative show. It's no surprise that she maintains the highest number of followers of all the Atlanta ladies and of all Housewives on Twitter after Bethenny.
The Atlanta ladies are very interactive users on Twitter, they tweet interesting thing that are going on even sometimes giving hints on what's to come on their show, they respond to fans and most of the tweet while their show is airing. That is always a big fan favorite.
New Jersey Housewives, as the second most popular housewives series have pretty good numbers
Danielle - 51,000
Jacqueline - 86,000
Caroline - 89,000
Dina - 89,000
Teresa - 120,000
Dina and Caroline are neck in neck in the battle of the Twitter popularity game, Dina has about 300 more followers than Caroline at the moment.
These New Jersey numbers are interesting because it is actually Jacqueline, Dina and Caroline who tweet the most, Teresa has gone days without saying a word on Twitter. (right around the time that news of her Bankruptcy broke in the press) Yet Teresa remains the most popular New Jersey Housewife.
Kim Granatell has 7,542 Twitter Followers and that number will most likely grow if she is made an official New Jersey Housewife. Melissa Gorga, rumored to be the newest New Jersey housewife, sister-in-law to Teresa Giudice is very active on Twitter and currently has 1,485 followers and growing rapidly.
Teresa tweets ads and that would get a typical twitterer unfollowed faster than you can tweet that advertisement. She tweets photos, public appearance information and does occasionally respond to fans.
I've covered Dina's Twitter style, she's an aggressive mean girl but likes to cowardly delete her mean tweets so that she will still appear as though she's a lovely charitable woman.
Caroline and Jacqueline have similar tweeting styles, they clearly want to respond to fans but are weary of including a direct tweet to a fan so they'll respond to someone's tweet/question but won't use that person's name in their tweet. This so that it appears they are just providing information about a frequently asked question but are not having a personal discussion on Twitter with any one person. This is a good strategy for Jac and Caroline because they avoid offending anyone.
Not surprisingly the Beverly Hills Housewives have some of the lower overall numbers of the Housewives series, yet still outshine DC. With just one episode airing, I'm sure their numbers will grow as their season unfolds:
Taylor - 1,778
Adrienne - 1920
Lisa - 1,985
Camille - 2,047
Kim - 5,000
Kyle - 10,500
Just as a comparison, Kim and Kyle's niece Paris Hilton has 2.9 million followers.
As the longest running series, Orange County should have some pretty high numbers, but they don't. With the exception of Gretchen, who is very active on Twitter, the Orange County ladies are much more active on Facebook and their Twitter numbers reflect how clearly they neglect Twitter:
Alexis - 13,000
Jeana - 19,000
Vicki - 25,000
Tamra - 41,500
Gretchen - 49,600
Lynne Curtain does not have a Twitter account, did not blog last season and is not to be found on Facebook. Do you suppose her computer was repossessed?
We've watched as in a lot of cases the husbands of The Real Housewives and have gained a following of their own.
Simon VanKempen, husband of New York Housewife, Alex McCord is probably the most active husband on Twitter and has 25,000 followers. In comparison Rich Amons, husband of DC housewife Mary has just 428 followers. Rich's post on BravoTV.com has really gotten some great reviews, if you haven't read Rich's man rules, it's worth the read!
Alex and Simon have a great program combined with their Twitter that will automatically follow anyone who follows them, with many of the other Housewives, it is difficult to get a follow from them. I've watched and been embarrassed for some fans who continually beg the Housewives to follow them on Twitter, the way I see it, if you're a fan of a particular housewife you can Tweet to them and they can respond whether or not they're following you. That said, it does get some attention when a celebrity follows a "normal" person so there is a fine line between stalking a celebrity for a follow and chatting with them and asking for a follow.
Andy Cohen is active on Twitter and has 132,000 followers, Rachel Zoe has 284,000 followers, Jeff Lewis has 43,600 followers and Patti Stanger, 52,000.
Jeff Lewis never, ever tweets to fans, he merely uses Twitter to promote his activities and in fact was completely absent from Twitter during his off season.
Stanger will also never be caught tweeting directly to fans but tweets her promotional nonsense along with dating "tips" for women and pushes her on line dating site. Does anyone else remember Stanger slamming on line dating sites as garbage during her first season of Millionaire Matchmaker? I sure do! Now that she has her very own on line dating site, apparently her opinion of them has changed.
Rachel Zoe has 284,000 followers, why? I don't know. She doesn't share any pearls of wisdom or provide any mind blowing information.
Tonight on Bravo - Real Housewives of Atlana and Thintervention with Jackie Warner.
Until Next Time...
