By Greg Oguss

It’s probably no surprise that there are mad men lurking among the users on the micro-blogging site Twitter. One dude I follow calls himself “Fart Sandwich,” though he’s actually a down-to-earth sort who’s some kind of office slave and aspiring novelist. The Mad Men I’m referring to are named @Roger_Sterling, @peggyolsen, and @Don_Draper and they’re characters in AMC’s highly-rated drama Mad Men.

The show got off to an indifferent start this year so many fans are grateful for all the drama it’s offered on the intarweb. It’s a bit of an anachronism to have advertising executives, secretaries and desperate housewives from the early 1960s hanging out on the Internet. Nonetheless, it’s a brilliant marketing scheme that dovetails nicely with what the show is about. There was much commotion online when the accounts were initially suspended by Twitter for the vague explanation “due to suspicious activity.” Twitter founder Biz Stone eventually explained that it was a case of digital copyright infringement since they were fan-created accounts. AMC stepped in and asked that they be taken down. There was the predictable backlash until AMC’s web marketing firm Deep Focus advised their client that they were doing far more harm than good by getting in the way of a ton of free marketing. So the accounts are back online.

Why the accounts are so popular is that, like the rest of Web 2.0, the characters are not merely a one-way method of communication but will talk to fans who add them. They won’t respond to everything you say, but they do attempt to answer in character. Some users are better at this than others. The Don Draper is basically an emo dullard who moans about his problems all day. But his wife @Betty_Draper is a fan fave. For example, if you ask her about what it’s like being “fictional,” her character will answer in that charmingly ditzy way of hers, “fictional character? Whatever do you mean?” If you’re into hardcore e-flirting like me, you can try informing her that her hubbie’s a douchebag playboy and ask if she wants to give a Gen Xer a try. But she’ll ignore you altogether. All the same, there are benefits to interacting with someone who’s all about promoting her fictional existence. At least she didn’t block me. So hop on Twitter and talk to the Mad Men. On the airwaves, season two has finally settled into a groove thanks to the introduction of Don Draper’s new mistress, a foxy redhead with a wild-man comedian husband. But this year, most of the fun is on Twitter.

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