Oscar gets an iPhone app before Academy Awards - Twitter next?

AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced that a new Oscars iPhone app (or "Oscars® App") is available just in time before the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.

This is great news for an organization who's social media efforts are far behind where they should be. The question is, when will AMPAS embrace Twitter and develop a fully integrated social media strategy? While you ponder that question, let's read more about the Oscars® App.

According to AMPAS, iPhone and iPod Touch users can get a nominees list for the 24 Academy Awards categories, see trailers from each film, and predict winners in each category. Your predictions will be saved in a database; you cna share them with your friends via email and Twitter.

It's a massively great new development, but where AMPAS can complete the social media job (for now) is by having a Twitter account that would send tweets of Oscar winners to the "Oscars® App" that you should then retweet to your Twitter followers from your iPhone or iPod Touch. Considering the number of AMPAS members who are on Twitter, plus Oscar fans, that would be a great distribution system.

But does AMPAS listen to me? I don't think so.

You can, and really should, get the "Oscars® App" for iPhone and iPod Touch at www.itunes.com/appstore/. Search for "Oscar" under the "Applications" drop down.