Noakes 1 Amy Noakes Professor Tamashasky The New Yorker 16 April 2012 God Complex: Misha Collinss Quest

to Smite Evil With Twitter Misha Collins is God. Or, rather, he plays Him on the cult-hit sci-fi show Supernatural. While he may not possess omnipotence or the ability to make it rain forty days and forty nights, Collins has a very real power over his fans, particularly the 430,765 that follow him on Twitter (Collins). He has a knack for making his minions (a term he affectionately applies to his followers) bow to his will, especially when he commands them to go out into the world and spread kindness. Collins is thirty-seven, lithe, and perpetually scruffy. While his pleasing bone structure may have been partly responsible for his popularity with fans early on, he has since proven that he is more than a pretty face. His charming everyman demeanor is complimented by an extremely eccentric sense of humor. When his ever-growing (mostly female) fan base was prompted by the Tumblr blog Hello Big Bad World to epitomize Collins in three words, they described him as a combination of beauty, talent, and insanity: the ideal traits for any man set on taking over the world. The high-energy audience at this years Supernatural panel at San Diego ComicCon made it apparent that Collins is already fairly close to total world domination. When he walked onto the stage the crowd grew almost rabid with excitement at the sight of their idol (Gonturan74). Once the crowd was calm enough for the panel to begin, one of the first questions came from a star struck teenager, who queried what it was like for

Noakes 2 Collins to play God in the latest season of Supernatural. The effect was uncanny. The previously untamable crowd fell silent with anticipation; their leader was about to speak. Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I have been sort of, as an actor, surprised that no one has written a God role for me yet, Collins said with his trademark sardonic wit. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes as a grin stretched across his face. He continued, It just seems like such a natural fit. Another fan quickly prompted him to describe the process of preparing to play God. Collins let out a deep breath, shaking his head. Like I said, Ive taken a lot from my personal life. Im very method, so Im smiting far more than usual. He paused, waiting for the laughter to subside before continuing in a more serious tone, Its funny; its one of those things that I actually got kind of nervous about. Its a big challenge (Gonturan74). Playing God isnt the only challenge Collins has been facing lately. This past June, Collins travelled to the Haitian city of Jacmel with a group of volunteers to build a community center for those made homeless by the 2010 earthquake (Hope 2 Haiti). A few months later, in November, he helmed GISHWHES (the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen), a scavenger hunt that promoted the exploration of the arts and which earned him and participants a Guinness World Record (FAQ). Most recently, in March, he ran AMOK across Los Angeles in the first Annual Melee of Kindness, delivering care packages of toothpaste, soap, blankets, and snacks to the homeless. The origin of these random acts of kindness can be traced back to a single point in time: 13 May 2009 (Collins). The day Misha Collins created a Twitter account. 2009 was the year that celebrities first began infiltrating Twitter (Worthham). The social media site was originally conceived in 2006 as a way for, what Jenna Wortham of

Noakes 3 the New York Times, terms rapid-fire communication among technophiles and a networking tool for tech-savvy companies. That all changed, however, when celebrities began gracing the site. Ashton Kutcher, long heralded as one of the first popular celebrity Twitter users, created a Twitter account in January 2009, and it wasnt long after that celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Oprah, and Snoop Dogg began flocking to Twitter as well (Drell). But while Kutcher and his celebrity cohorts may have ruled the Twitter stage for the past few years with trivial accounts of their lives, it seems that the social networking site may be taking its first steps into a new era of social responsibility. This step towards a Twitter less concerned with what Martha Stewart had for lunch and more focused on important world affairs began two years ago when Twitter added nonprofit organizations to their Who to follow list. According to Sean StannardStockton, from The Chronicle of Philanthropy, this move has been responsible for attracting thousands of new followers to philanthropy-focused Twitters. He says, Twitter's decision to elevate people in philanthropy to its list of those worthy of watching [was] important for the nonprofit world, because it gave nonprofits a new platform to attract supporters and discuss important issues. While the staff of Twitter took the first steps in promoting nonprofits on their site, nonprofits have not quite yet grasped how to meet the Twitter community half way. From the way the majority of nonprofits are acting on Twitter, sociologist Kristen Lovejoy has concluded that many remain puzzled over how to best use Twitter to connect with their external stakeholders on a daily basis. Susan Gunelius from the social media blog Sprout Insights agrees, noting that while some well-established nonprofits

Noakes 4 such as The Red Cross and Make-A-Wish understand the importance of balancing out self-promotion and interaction with followers, for most organizations, this isnt the case. A recent evaluation of tweets conducted by Lovejoy supports this claim, finding that most nonprofits are using the microblogging platform as a one-way communication channel of self-promotion. Or, in other words, they are behaving like typical narcissistic Twitter celebrities. For a user to ignore the importance of followers is considered an act of Twittersuicide. Connecting with followers is fundamental to the success of any Twitter user, and this is especially true for nonprofits. Gunelius stresses the importance of building a relationship with followers, reasoning, When people can personally identify with you, they are more likely to participate in your cause. If these good intentioned, yet Twitterignorant, nonprofit organizations continue to disregard their followers, they risk losing a valuable new generation of volunteers. Stannard-Stockton warns, Unless more people at foundations and charities learn to speak to the newly gathering mainstream audiences, they may blow a huge opportunity to radically expand the influence of the nonprofit world. Unlike the majority of philanthropic individuals and organizations on Twitter, Collins knows how to work his audience. One of the biggest challenges for nonprofits, as Gunelius puts it, is to make their Twitter feeds feel more human, and this is where Collins excels. His natural ability to connect with his followers on a personal level is why he has found so much success through Twitter. Much of the ease with which Collins is able to connect with his followers comes from his own personal experiences at the receiving end of charities.

Noakes 5 Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Collins grew up in a family that was at a nearly constant struggle with poverty (Misha Collins Biography). In an interview with Laura Prudom of The Huffington Post, he revealed that he spent many of his formative years bouncing from place to place, sometimes homeless and often forced to sleep in abandoned (and not so abandoned) office buildings. His family reached its lowest point when Collins was in high school, when a house fire destroyed nearly everything they owned (Misha Collins Biography). These early experiences with poverty and loss have had a profound effect on how Collins interacts with the world; he is all too cognizant of how great an impact a home, a pair of shoes, or even an act of goodwill as simple as handing a flower to a stranger, can have on someone less fortunate (Prudom). Not long after he signed up for Twitter Collins discovered an eager community of fans willing to listen to his daily satirical ramblings. Like many celebrities on Twitter before him, Collins first tweets were fairly standard combinations of musings and humor. But then, on December 3, 2009, Collins saw the potential that Twitter had to initiate good works. That day, Collins sent a joking tweet to his followers, asking them to come up with ideas for a minionstimulus project to obtain U.S. government stimulus money for non-profit minion initiatives (FAQ: Random Acts). What started off as a cheeky project proposal, however, has since transformed into something bigger with the help of Collinss Twitter minions. Recalling that day, Collins says, One person [Lisa Walker] responded, Well, Im a grant writer and you actually have to be a nonprofit if you want stimulus money, and that got me thinking: Why not? Lets do it! (Prudom). The quest for government stimulus money was given up and replaced by the formation of a private charity

Noakes 6 organization, named Random Acts. Three years and a lot of work later, Collins says, We have a fairly well organized little organization with people who are actually accomplishing things with their time and are quite prepared to aid in the quest to conquer the world, one random act of kindness at a time (FAQ: Random Acts). It is one thing to pledge world domination and quite another to achieve it. Collinss dedication to complete world takeover was tested little more than a month after the formation of Random Acts, when, on January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince. Brian G. Smith, sociologist at University of Houston, asserts, Moments following reports of the earthquake, social media users flooded Twitter, posting queries about relief efforts, and establishing an online dialogue about the organizations and individuals involved in the Haitian recovery. Collinss reaction on Twitter was immediate. On January 13 he tweeted, I was in Port Au Prince, 15 years ago. That city & much of Haiti has been obliterated by this earthquake. Possibly 100,000 dead. He quickly followed up by calling his Twitter minions to action: World governments are rallying to Haiti's aid. Lets demonstrate that our fledgling autocracy [Mishas Minions] is a humanitarian force to be reckoned with... His next step was to form a Minion Page on the UNICEF website, through which his Twitter followers were able to raise an astonishing $23,000 in a single week (Collins). Since proving itself after the Haitian earthquake, Collins nonprofit Random Acts has been an unstoppable force on Twitter. In September 2010, for example, Collins informed his minions of his newest fundraising endeavor Run, Misha, Run during which he asked his followers to pledge donations based on how far he could run in a single day. He kept his followers informed of his running progress over Twitter (one

Noakes 7 characteristically bizarre tweet, accompanied with a photo, read, Running update: as u can see, it's pretty here, what the photo doesn't show is that I just peed on my sneaker). By the end of the day Collins had run 83 kilometers (roughly 50 miles) for 11 hours, and had raised $84,664.62 for Random Acts, flood relief efforts in Pakistan, and orphanages in Haiti (FAQ: Random Acts). Collins Twitter not only succeeds in raising funds, but also excels in getting people, especially teenagers, excited to volunteer in their communities. On a recent afternoon in Los Angeles, California, for example, Collins donned a false moustache to run AMOK in the first Annual Melee of Kindness. Before donning his disguise that morning, Collins made sure to send a tweet to his followers, Don't forget to run #AMOK today. & if u are trapped alone in a mineshaft, & don't have anyone to be nice to, at least be kind to yourself. Collins encouraged his minions to participate by inviting them to document their acts of kindness that day and send them in to Random Acts for a chance to win a prize for creativity. 19 countries participated in the event and 117 random acts of kindness were documented in a single day; it was a great success (SAARA Smiles). Regardless of Collinss Twitter triumphs, however, there are those who remain skeptical of social medias ability to bringing about real change. Malcom Gladwell, esteemed writer for The New Yorker, for example, first criticized social media activism in October 2010. In his article he argued, Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met (2). Because of this, he concluded, the connections made with followers are weak and superficial and, in result, incapable of producing change outside of the Internet (2). Gladwells biggest issue with online activism,

Noakes 8 however, stemmed from his belief that, if youre taking on a powerful and organized establishment you have to be a hierarchy. Because the networks created over Twitter arent controlled by a single central authority, and decisions regarding activism are made through consensus (4), Gladwell believed that it was impossible for Twitter to ever become a platform for social change. A few months after his article was published, however, protests in Egypt proved Gladwells theories on activism to be greatly flawed. Shortly after the Tahrir Square protests began, Catherine Smith of The Huffington Post reported that protesters relied heavily on Twitter, YouTube and a host of other sitesto communicate and coordinate with one another. David Nakamura of The Washington Post, agreed, adding that the protesters use of social media was successful to such a degree that government officials [in Egypt] moved to temporarily ban access to social networking site and the Internet. This revolution, carried out by a network of equals over Twitter and Facebook, proved Gladwells arguments for hierarchical activism that shunned social media to be severely misguided. Misha Collinss philanthropic strategies are unconventional, theres no doubting that. But his eccentricities on Twitter and in life have earned him the overwhelming attention and participation that his nonprofit Random Acts thrives on for its success. Underneath his screwball humor and bizarre tweets, however, there is a seriousness that has inspired many of his followers. Collins says, "While [a random act of kindness] seems small, it can ultimately be profound in various people's lives. I know that when people have perpetrated such acts against me, that it has had a lasting effect on me, so I like to return the favor" (Prudom). And now, it seems that a new generation of volunteers

Noakes 9 want to return the favor to Collins. This band of renegade do-gooders, Mishas Minions, proclaim over Twitter time and time again, Were all here for the same reasons and thats to help Misha achieve his dream - to achieve worldwide domination through random acts of kindness (FAQ). Word Count: 2494

Noakes 10 Works Cited Collins, Misha (mishacollins). Twitter. i am doing a tutorial on twitter. 13 May 2009, 12:40am. Web. 4 April 2012. Collins, Misha (mishacollins). I was in Port Au Prince, 15 years ago. That city & much of Haiti has been obliterated by this earthquake. Possibly 100,000 dead. 13 Jan 2010, 9:42pm. Tweet. Collins, Misha (mishacollins). World governments are rallying to Haiti's aid. Lets demonstrate that our fledgling autocracy is a humanitarian force to be reckoned with... 13 Jan 2010, 9:45pm. Tweet. Collins, Misha (mishacollins). Minion Page @ UNICEF-It's time to PONY UP. http://bit.ly/7WTLRD 13 Jan 2010, 9:45pm. Tweet. Collins, Misha (mishacollins). Just saw we've blown my Haiti fundraising goal of $8 out of the water. We're @ $23,000! More proof it's always best to set your sights low. 20 Jan 2010, 7:41pm. Tweet. Collins, Misha (mishacollins). Running update: as u can see, it's pretty here, what the photo doesn't show is that I just peed on my sneaker. 5 Sep 2010, 1:47pm. Tweet. Collins, Misha (mishacollins). Don't forget to run #AMOK today. & if u are trapped alone in a mineshaft, & don't have anyone to be nice to, at least be kind to yourself. 4 Mar 2012, 12:10pm. Tweet. Drell, Lauren. "Celebrities on Twitter: 30 Famous First Tweets." Mashable Social Media. 10 May 2011. Web. 13 Apr 2012.

Noakes 11 "FAQ." Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen. Web. 5 Apr 2012. "FAQ: Random Acts." Random Acts. Web. 5 Apr 2012. Gladwell, Malcolm. "Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted." New Yorker. 4 Oct 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. Gonturan74. Supernatural SDCC 2011 Entire Panel. YouTube. Web. 5 Apr 2012. Gunelius, Susan. "5 Nonprofits Using Twitter Right." Sprout Insights. 16 Nov 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. Hello Big Bad World. Tumblr, 7 Apr 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Hope 2 Haiti." The Random Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr 2012. Lovejoy, Kristen. "Engaging Stakeholders Through Twitter: How Nonprofit Organizations Are Getting More Out of 140 Characters or Less."Public Relations Review. 38.2 (2012). Web. 11 Apr. 2012. "Misha Collins Biography." Random Acts. Web. 2 Apr 2012. Nakamura, David. "Malcolm Gladwell and the Twitter Backlash." Washington Post. 4 Feb 2011.Web. 25 Apr. 2012. Prudom, Laura. "CW Stars Sophia Bush and Misha Collins Give Back." HuffPost TV. 31 Aug 2010: n. page. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "SAARA Smiles." Random Acts. N.p., 4 Apr 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. Smith, Brian G. "Socially Distributing Public Relations: Twitter, Haiti, and Interactivity in Social Media." Public Relations Review. 36.4 (2010). Web. 11 Apr. 2012. Smith, Catherine. "Egyptian Father Names Baby 'Facebook'." Huffington Post. 21 Feb 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.

Noakes 12 Surette, Tim. "Supernatural's Angelic Misha Collins." TV.com. 2 Oct 2008. Web. 4 Apr 2012. Stannard-Stockton, Sean. "Twitter Presents a Chance for Charities to Reach More People." Chronicle of Philanthropy. 12 Nov 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. Wortham, Jenna. "Twittering Celebrities Take Fans Backstage in Their Lives." New York Times. 23 Feb 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.