Twitter's Impact on a Life

Sure, Twitter's a waste of time, but it's my time and I'll waste it if I want. But Wil Wheaton doesn't think Twitter's a waste of time. (I've blogged here before about Wil Wheaton .)

I've always believed that when you work hard and are kind to people, wonderful things will happen, and some of those wonderful things will happen to you. (It was awesome to hear something similar from Conan O'Brien recently; that made me feel like I've been on the right track.) I've always hoped that the work would just speak for itself, but in all aspects of the entertainment industry, just being good at what you do or just being good to work with aren't enough. Just being an entertaining author or filmmaker or performer isn't enough; you need to get your work in front of an audience, especially if you hope to make a living from your art. There is a whole lot of reality at the root of the old cliché about who you know and networking. I didn't expect it, and it's not even my primary reason for using it, but Twitter has ended up filling that gap in my professional life, and the results have been nothing short of astounding.

While Wheaton's emphasis is on the marketing advantages of Twitter - most of my followers seem to be marketers who are interested in letting me know of their awesome marketing skills - he does manage to touch on the personal benefits. Twitter is just a plain ol' good way of keeping in touch with a lot of people. That seems to be more of why I'm on Twitter; I find it simply amusing and some of the people I've made connections with are quite wonderful. I wouldn't call that a waste of time at all.