Twitter & Me
Sam Houston, also known as Qfor Q, who I first ran into a couple of years ago because of his work with Vanguard radio, recently published a list of a number of twitters belonging to game designers and game design companies in which my name was included. Now, I had only just signed up for twitter a couple of weeks ago in order to link it to my Facebook so I could both do a feed of pictures and status updates during my travel, and now I have a slough of new followers and all of the sudden feel like maybe I should take it more seriously! I update status on Facebook regularly with the same sort of shtuff people Twitter, so I may as well simply update Twitter and FB at the same time.
People ask what the value of twitter is and tend to pass off everything people put on twitter as, “I had coffee this morning”, but a lot of these same people regularly update their Facebook status with things that are funny, meaningful, or interesting, or are intended to be used as a way to begin a conversation with multiple people they know at the same time (such as asking for a recommendation, “Should I cut my hair?” “Should I see movie X or movie Y?”). I’ll admit, I less see the appeal of subscribing to a perfect stranger’s twitter, unless said stranger lives a very interesting life, but those of us in arts and entertainment can also use twitter/status to promote things we are doing, and those who are interested in our work will appreciate it. For a very good example, check out Felicia Day’s twitter. Yes, there is a good mixture of “I am doing this right now”, but she also keeps people updated on what is going on with her projects, and gives unique insight into the creative process that I know I for one appreciate. They can be mini blogs, and by placing the 140 character limit, it forces people to cut down to the meat of what it is they intend to say. I know I only follow blogs, even of people I am very interested in, so closely, because I don’t always want to read through George RR Martin’s football woes in order to look for news about when the next book in The Song of Ice and Fire will be released, or what HBO has done to push the series forward. With a twitter, GRRM would be forced to say “A Dance for Dragons will be released “, or if he wanted to talk about football, at least I would only need to skim 140 characters to know he isn’t saying anything I care about, and that would make me happy. Then, when I had a lot of time to kill I could visit his blog and read his extended thoughts on matters animal, vegetable, and mineral.
I’m not one to get involved in an internet trend unless I see value in it, and for awhile, I admit, I was a Twitter doubter too, but having used it for a little bit now, I think I am converted.
O yeah, and if you are curious, the following is a link to Sam’s article:
Video Game Companies on Twitter
And my twitter is:
http://twitter.com/missdoomcookie
