By Marian Daniells, News Correspondent
Tom O’Keefe has it made. Front-row seats at sporting events, the occasional free beer, getting invitations to dates from women he’s never met and most importantly, justification for his burrito obsession.
He’s no movie star. Tom O’Keefe is the man behind @BostonTweet, a Twitter account disseminating information about local specials and current events in the city to more than 50,000 followers.
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. When the economy flopped in late 2008, O’Keefe struggled to find a means of supporting himself.
“I had two start-ups at the time that pretty much over night became worthless,” he said, referring to TOKiBiz, a company that sought to help entrepreneurs develop ideas into profitable Internet companies, and Bizak.com, a business valuation application which calculated the profitability of startups.
Instead, O’Keefe looked to Twitter. He wanted to build a location-based platform that told followers which bars and events were good.
“That was three and a half years ago. And I’ve been doing it every single day since,” he said.
More than 17,000 tweets later, O’Keefe is something of a local celebrity. Running BostonTweet is his only job, though he collaborates with other companies, like Groupon. O’Keefe has served as a Groupon Boston representative since 2009, consulting with city restaurants to facilitate deals.
He’s also sells T-shirts featuring his infamous burrito characters on his website, BostonTweet.com, and has done some work developing Twitter applications that work for Boloco, Emerson, Simmons, and a few other schools.
When he first started, his technological restrictions (he owned a Motorola Razr) limited his ability to tweet on the go. “When I started it was very dry and kind of boring,” said O’Keefe, a 1995 Boston College alumnus who majored in politics and economics. Before, most of his tweets came from his home computer, limiting his scope.
When he got an iPhone in 2009, it changed the entire way O’Keefe looked at work, he said.
“It freed me from having to be inside at an office,” he said. O’Keefe’s Twitter content changed from news-y, time-sensitive tweets to content covering the greater Boston experience. “It was more about what I was doing in the city,” said O’Keefe, who now tweets about anything from local businesses to beer, city highlights and, of course, burritos.
Marketing Professor Rosanna Garcia said BostonTweet has gained popularity for a few reasons.
“It’s a meme that is easily spread between people through retweeting with the retweeters being able to add their own commentary,” Garcia said. “Tom makes it easy and fast to find information about Boston. The target for BostonTweet is the 20-something group in Boston that is inundated with information via mobile devices, Internet and word-of-mouth … BostonTweet builds a small world network of like-minded people.”
Northeastern students agree that his tweets are both interesting, as well as relevant.
“I like following BostonTweet because he gives me live updates on what is going on around the area I live in,” said middler criminal justice major Jessy Segall.
Carrie Pluta, a middler communications major, said that BostonTweet has led her to some of what became her favorite places in Boston.
“I often use Twitter as a primary news source when I’m in a hurry, and his tweets enable me to instantly know what events or happenings are going on in Boston,” she said.
Aside from being a social media marketer, O’Keefe is a renowned burrito enthusiast.
“Some people call me crazy,” he said. He likes to use black beans and other foods to make burrito “characters,” like Burrtweeto and Polyphemus, the mythical one-eyed burrito from Olecito, and post pictures on Twitter. Though he said his friends understand his goofy habit of playing with his food, “When I’m sitting alone and making a burrito character, most of the people get up and move away.”
And while marketing T-shirts with burrito characters on them may not be mainstream, it turns out the burrito craze was originally for practical reasons. As O’Keefe explained, a burrito is a solid meal (sometimes even two) for only $6 or $7. And when times are hard and money is tight, “They’re a great value.”
O’Keefe receives hundreds of vouchers for free burritos from places all over Boston, including Anna’s Taqueria. But, rather than eating them himself, he gives them away. He often hides vouchers throughout the city and posts hints to Twitter.
“People get so excited when they win a free burrito on the street,” he said. “I’d much rather have them enjoy it than eat 20 burritos a day.”
Food is a large portion of what O’Keefe covers, including deals and events throughout Boston.
“Cupcakes usually generate the most response,” O’Keefe said, laughing.
O’Keefe said his demographic tends to be educated females in their 20s, who live or work off the green and red MBTA lines.
And the ladies love him.
“It’s gotten kind of a little crazy in the last couple of months,” he said, regarding people recognizing him on the streets and approaching him.
“Pretty much every night I go out, I get noticed. Most of the time they’re girls. As a very straight man, I don’t mind that.”
