Watch the Hype: How Twitter is Making the New Jay-Z and Kanye West Album More Epic

This week, one of the most-talked about music collaborations ever was released: Watch the Throne, the new album by Jay-Z and Kanye West. Kanye in particular is of course already known for sending ripples through the Twitter waters, and Jay-Z has no shortage of renown, on Twitter or elsewhere. It seems, then, for this album that Twitter has only elevated the hype surrounding the album -- and here's why. Watch the Throne has in fact been on a social media kick from the start. Jay-Z and Kanye decided to release this album's first single on Facebook back in January of this year. That single, "H.A.M.", didn't have unbridled success on Facebook, but still the idea that the album has been about reaching social networks from the start is interesting. In some way, the Facebook release was a clue that Watch the Throne is not just about bringing two gold star rappers together, but bringing different communities of music lovers together in one big social media discussion. Kanye and Jay-Z fan Twitter accounts increase the hype without a doubt, but everyday individuals have also tweeted a picture of diverse fan reactions. And since the album's reception has, in fact, been divided between the lovers, the haters, and the inbetweeners, Twitter has definitely fostered an ongoing and diverse conversation. Collaboration albums -- especially long-awaited ones -- also leave a lot of room for Twitter to work its magic because the release date, in some ways, feels like Judgment Day. And since Twitter draws a lot of its power from a fast stream of content, quick updates that surface just as soon as something happens, people are extra eager to get their opinions out there, to claim some of the first original thoughts on the songs. And as already mentioned, both of these music stars already have huge followings on Twitter. Any time an artist releases something new, their Twitter power will factor into how much hype that new product has. Simply put, collaborations will magnify hype just because there are two people to talk about and mention through tweets. Finally, Twitter makes a work like Watch the Throne more epic because it creates a record of all the thoughts people have about the album. If someone in the future were to make a scrapbook of Watch the Throne's place in pop culture, they would have millions of 140 character tidbits to work with... Did you read any tweets about Watch the Throne?

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Watch the Hype: How Twitter is Making the New Jay-Z and Kanye West Album More Epic

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