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It's been said that Facebook and Twitter are more addictive than cigarettes. Perhaps this is why when asked to "please turn off all electronic devices" before a live theatre performance, many people simply don't do it.

Fortunately for patrons (and performers) who can't stand the sight of a glowing smartphone screen, more and more venues have opted to give compulsive Tweeters a space of their own, much like the smoking section of days gone by.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet "the tweet seats".

tweet-seats.jpgSince 2009, there's been a growing trend toward theatres setting aside seating sections for audience members who wish to tweet on their phones. The practice has been adopted by the Carolina Ballet in Raleigh, N.C., the Dayton Opera in Dayton, Ohio, the Indianapolis Symphony and even on Broadway.

The goal is to let people use their smartphones and tablets during performances without disrupting other audience members.

"They are being advertised as safe harbor for the twitterati, where pulling out your gizmo is celebrated instead of frowned upon," writes Curt Hopkins in an Arts Technica piece about why he feels "tweet seats deserve to be booed out of the theatre."

Geekosystem's Eric Limer argues that this movement may be capitalizing on a potentially serious problem.

"There's also evidence to suggest that social networking -- among other things -- is annihilating attention spans, not to mention the existence of things like Internet Addiction Prevention Clinics and Internet Addition Disorder. Could it be that tweet seats are a bid to accept, and even facilitate a growing, unhealthy social media dependency to make a few extra bucks?" he asks.

Some critics feel uneasy about the idea, but theatre marketing managers have been able to use these designated smartphone sections to great effect.

"Basically, it functions like interactive program notes," says the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's Chris Pinelo in an interview with NPR. "So you have an assistant or associate conductor backstage giving some insights into the music you're experiencing, and then you're able to respond, and it's like a digital conversation."

Fellow audience members and those at home are able to follow a hashtag with live tweets from the performance.

As Limer points out, the publicity benefits of having any show live-tweeted far outweigh the hassle of dealing with audience compaints for production companies.

Would you embrace the idea of a designated smartphone section in your neighbourhood, or do you, like Hopkins believe that "tweeting during a play is like eating corn on the cob in a truck stop bathroom. It's just gross."?

Let us know your thoughts below.

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quote: Joe Redifer

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I'm surprised that they're not confiscated at the door

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