Larger-than-life tweets grab drivers' attention

Would you like to see your Tweet up in lights, perhaps on 12 Jumbotrons around Tampa Bay roads?
Ryan Frazier gets to do that.

Clear Channel Outdoor is experimenting with putting Twitter messages on its 12 Tampa Bay digital billboards, mixing in the 140-character-or-less messages among ads for restaurants, car dealers and lawyers.

"Twitter has such big buzz right now, and we wanted to show the flexibility of these displays to show images instantly," said Frazier, digital manager for Clear Channel Outdoor in Tampa Bay.

The billboards are the kind you might see in a sports stadium. Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor and other billboard companies have started using them as giant digital displays.

Normally, they cycle through about eight advertisements, keeping one image on screen for a few seconds at a time.

Amid a nationwide advertising slump, more billboards have started going empty. Clear Channel decided last week to experiment with ways to show the potential of digital displays. Already, the company has displayed art from local artists and community announcements.

Frazier created a link to his own Twitter account so he can type out a message on his BlackBerry phone that appears instantly on 12 billboards around the area. With the Twitter experiment, he's tried to keep the tone casual - in keeping with Twitter's free-for-all atmosphere. Among his messages:

•'30 Rock' receives 22 Emmy nominations
•Last day of questions for Sotomayor
•Gabby D'Annunzio of Largo was the winning contestant on 'Jeopardy!' yesterday
•After six tries, space shuttle Endeavor takes off
•Congrats to Carl Crawford- All Star Game MVP!

State rules prevent such billboards from displaying any animation or blinking images - in part to prevent distracting drivers going by. But beyond that, they can link to any image the company chooses, and in this case, the company can make links to any Web site. As that site updates, so does the display, instantly.

As Twitter messages ("tweets") started appearing on the Tampa-area billboards, phones started ringing at Clear Channel from advertising firms and media companies hoping to put their alerts and headlines on the screens.

If you want to see the messages, you can sign up on Twitter to follow Frazier. He's at the name "@BillboardTweets."