The Humanity In Twitter
Right around the start of twitter, a few people I knew suggested to me that I should create an account and start networking with it. I had a bit of social network website-fatigue, and didn’t really want to join… But I did anyway.
I already had around 1k fans following me on myspace, where I would post updates, talk to them about projects and ideas in regards to future ones. I even used myspace’s blog portion to talk about freelance assignments I was working on. I received a ton of kudos and comments when I did that.
Then I realized how much like myself, people were using myspace less and less. It seemed like it was only a really good website if you’re a musician aaaand… Hmm. Well! I guess myspace really is only the bees knees if you’re a musician… Everyone else seems to have migrated over to facebook.
So when I restarted my comic, stating that it’s a sequel that could be followed with or without following the original series, I made a facebook page for it as well, so that people could interact with myself there as well as receive updates on their facebook page. The 1k fans I had on myspace didn’t quite transfer over as well, and it’s still slowly building to what it once was… But I tell ya, facebook is a lot cleaner than myspace and pretty easy in comparison.
So I had myspace and I had facebook, why twitter? Well, whatever, I thought, and gave twitter a try. Problem was, I kept on receiving nonstop messages from people I knew and all the kvetching that was going on with them. Picture yourself working on your laptop, responding to an email, and then you get a twitter notification that someone is sad today. Then another person writes how their relationship is making them miserable. Five minutes later, the other person in that relationship leaves a passive aggressive comment towards their boy/girlfriend.
When the only “positive” twitter alerts I was receiving was, “That peanut butter sandwich was awesome,” something was wrong. And so I cancelled my account.
Fast forward a few years, and I’m now a freelance illustrator full time. Networking is not only necessary, but required when you’re trying to sell original products. My myspace account was pretty much dead, I migrated over to deviantart, and realized up to the minute posts on twitter helped people gain instant results… But more importantly, the best form of advertising was mammoth on twitter, word of mouth.
The best people you can trust for things that might be interesting, fun, or just plain ol’ good, are your friends and family. They know you better than advertising companies, despite what all the Don Drapers
As such, I rejoined. First I thought of just using twitter to notify people of when I was doing something business-related, which is why my twitter name is the awful “joshmbroadcast” (Josh Mirman is Broadcasting something right now!!!) and not something more intimate as just my name. I want to change it, but my twitter is linked and used all over the place right now, and I fear it might be too late.
However, through time, I felt nonstop promotion of myself was feeling kind of lame. Almost like I was spamming myself, when I really didn’t want to be a spammer. I not only have an audience, of different sizes (facebook less than 300, twitter less than 200, deviantart less than 150, youtube less than 30 google analytics states thousands, adsense pageviews in tens of thousands, blip.tv is all over the place, etc.) but I have an audience nevertheless. And I used to have a HUGE audience… I feel as a storyteller, I’ve only improved since then, so it’s only a matter of time of reintroducing myself to the world and expanding my audience once again.
The point is, I began to combine my promotional tweets with personal things, between jokes, my mood and sometimes just being positive. I try to avoid negative posts… And if they are sad and/or mopey, I do my best to stay clear from “woe is me”-ish posts. Have to remind myself that that was why I left twitter in the first place.
But the thing is, I’ve seen and follow a handful of other artists, and a lot only post things that are promotional. As a result, I have consciously been noticing I’ve gained fatigue in terms of their posts. It has made me question if using twitter to remind your followers that you’re human is actually better than not.
I brought this discussion up to a friend, and she stated that my belief of posting human, and sometimes inane comments, are not the standard way people promote themselves, because it can come off as “unprofessional.” When you’re trying to sell yourself and make a living, being labeled as unprofessional is… Well… Bad.
Yet, I shook my head while typing back to her IM window and said how twitter seems different and is changing the rules. The most successful twitter accounts with the millions of readers are more personal than promotional. I’m even following a bunch of famous people because I enjoy seeing their twitter accounts, reminding me that they are just as human as you and I.
Then my friend states how she gets a ton of updates on facebook about how her friends are eating a certain food for lunch. “You do not have any friends that are food bloggers.”
“No! I do not!” I replied. “I can’t argue and go; Well what do you know? How do you know me like that? I have tons of food bloggers! But you’re absolutely right, I know zero of them.”
She remained silent, so I continued. “Facebook feels different. Facebook feels like you’re talking more to friends and people you are close to. Facebook, you might befriend someone you met once at a party, but you’re not collecting friends just because you have similar interests… But twitter you do. Twitter seems much more open to interact with strangers.”
She then stated, “Have you got any work through twitter?”
I told her, “I’ve begun communications with people through twitter that I would love to collaborate with. I’ve gained a new audience through twitter, and when I post something I’ve done, they are quick to check it out. They are great at spreading the word out if they like something I’ve done. Money-wise, this has also helped my adsense revenue go up, because my pageviews continue to go up as a result.”
So, I have NOT had an art director come to me and tell me they want to work with me, because of twitter. But I have had my career improve because of it.
And I don’t think many followers would’ve kept on following me if it was just this egotistical self-indulgent way to promote myself and remind the world how important I am and why they should be following me.
Excuse my language, but fuck that. I’m not a special person, I just happen to be living a life where an audience is required. If I wanted to be a mechanic and make the most amazing car the world has ever seen, no audience would be necessary. But creating stories makes me happy, and if I want to live off of it, I need people to read what I am writing, see what I’m drawing, and enjoy themselves as a result. It doesn’t make me special.. However, I feel special because of your support, but feeling and thinking things is not always the truth.
I read that last sentence in a buddhist book. And Buddha was pretty important back in the day.
During the discussion I had with the friend, I googled a few lines, such as, “What makes a successful twitter account” and “How to have a lot of followers on twitter.”
And then I found this article: 8 useful tips to become successful with twitter.
The first tip it said? “Above all, keep it personal.” Twitter accounts should have personal updates along with the promotional ones. Twitter accounts for media sources like CNN, that do nothing but talk about articles and news reports, the article states, are using twitter in the wrong way.
Now while CNN might be able to get away with it (or maybe they could do even better if they changed things?), it’s important to remember that we’re not CNN. We weren’t a news network that is trying to keep up to date with the modern world.
We’re just humans trying to do something with our lives… But it’s important to never forget that human part of us.
So, twitter, who knew that you’re promoting something that the entertainment world could use? A little dash of humanity (be it good or bad)? Maybe as such, even the inane tweets aren’t necessarily inane.
Maybe there’s a point to it all?
No Responses to “The Humanity In Twitter”