Jay-Z Takes to the Tweets [Facts Only]

How do you engage with your fans on Twitter? One option is to spend some serious time with them, which is exactly what Jay-Z (@S_C_) did this week when he spent seven hours in conversation with followers and the world. Jay-Z may not have been very active on Twitter historically but on Monday that changed when he tweeted 169 times with fans and other celebs.

The in-depth conversation was in advance of release for his new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail (#MCHG) and it kicked off Monday morning 9 am PST with the following Tweet:

At first, the fans couldn’t believe it. When they realized that, yes, Jay-Z really was online and and talking directly with them, interest exploded.

Even without an official hashtag, Jay-Z created his own lexicon of terms such as *mylaugh (when he was laughing) and [facts only] when he was telling fans he was speaking the truth. In fact, #factsonly started trending after this tweet:

During the Q&A, fans learned everything from which song was the first track recorded for the album, his favorite Michael Jackson song, and favorite Britney Spears song. Jay-Z even redefined “what Twitter should be.”

Fans also learned his favorite breakfast cereal, illustrating how no subject is too small for Twitter.

The Cap’n immediately took note, and chimed in himself; the reply shows how keeping an eye on what everyone says about you is important on Twitter, no matter your field.

In one of the most retweeted moments, Jay-Z tweeted that he thinks “Miley is a GOD” and twerking should replace the electric slide. Miley herself got involved too, one of a number of fellow celebrities to take part:

As did a US congressman:

And Jay-Z’s producer tweeted this picture teasing some new material off the new album:

Unlike many other Q&As, there was no official hashtag — although that didn’t stop those taking part from making up their own, all of which meant that there were at least 1.5 million mentions of Jay-Z, his Tweets and #MCHG in the two days since it happened. This is nearly equivalent to the amount of Tweets Twitter saw the previous week about the US Supreme Courts’ gay marriage decision or regarding the Wendy Davis filibuster.

Jay-Z wasn’t the only one benefitting from all the attention. For instance, @youngstacks92 posted this question. For a user with only 240 followers, that’s amazing exposure. Jay Z’s reply was retweeted over 3,500 times.

@natdizYO posted this question. Jay-Z’s reply was tweeted nearly 6,000 times.The result was a huge boost in followers — up by 20 times Jay-Z’s normal daily average.

And questions came in from all corners of the globe: Thailand, Mexico, Argentina, Germany, South Africa, and in between.

The conversation was published everywhere from the Huffington Post to the LA TImes and Billboard.

And Jay-Z’s engagement continued this week, with one user live-Vining his video shoot on Wednesday.

Do you know about any other innovative Tweeting in music? Let us know at mediablog@twitter.com.