in which the impact of twitter on my life is examined, and thanks is given to @ev and @biz

When my friend Sean first told me about Twitter, I just didn't get it. "I already have a blog," I said. "Why would I want to tell anyone where I am or what I'm doing … and why would anyone care?"

Still, I signed up so I could have an account (I have to do a lot of this "defensive registering" on social networks, which is lame, but a fact of life) and that was that.

I don't know when it exactly happened, but I recall Warren Ellis saying that our friend Rich Stevens used Twitter not just to tell people what he was doing, but to say funny things and share whatever thoughts he had, 140 characters at a time. That was, as they say, the lightbulb moment for me. Shortly after that, Sean and I ended up at the wedding of our friends Kathleen and Atom, where we ended up twittering the whole reception, almost in real time, to our mutual amusement. It was just a few months later that Twitter really exploded, and though I'd been using it regularly, I felt compelled to write this.

I guess you could say that I was a reluctant early adopter who was rather quickly transformed into a passionate and enthusiastic early adopter, and I've never looked back, even when the spambots were out of control.

If history takes nothing else away from Twitter, I hope it will be something like this: communication is incredibly powerful. Making it easy for people to communicate, to directly talk to each other can change the world. We saw it in Iran, we see it during natural disasters, and I've seen it directly in my own life, in ways that don't even compare, but are still pretty damn profound for me, personally.

And that's what this post is about today: it's about how Twitter fundamentally changed my world, and how grateful I am for that.

From podcasts and pictures to books and audiobooks, I am compelled to create. I've tried to fight it – it's not the easiest life in the world, especially when you're responsible for a family – but I can't deny that I'm an artist any more than I can deny that I'm a human being. Most artists will tell you quite honestly that they would create their art for free. I know from personal experience that that is absolutely true. I loved writing and performing sketch comedy so much, I did years of shows at ACME for no other return than the joy of making people laugh, and the camaraderie that came with being in an ensemble cast. Ultimately, I had to leave ACME because I couldn't afford to invest the time and energy in the shows, but the years I was there remain some of the happiest and most creatively rewarding of my entire adult life.

While the experience of creating something artistic is rewarding and satisfying all on its own, it's not enough for me. I want to share my work with an audience. I want to affect people emotionally. I want to make people think. I want to entertain, I want to challenge, I want to inspire. I can't do that solely by creating things that are satisfying to me but never find their way to an audience.

Way back in 2002, when I decided to write and self-publish Dancing Barefoot, I knew that the world was changing, because it was easier than ever before for creators to connect and directly interact with our audience. At least a year before The Long Tail was formalized, I was thinking about a similar paradigm shift in publishing: why compete with huge publishing houses and established authors for shelf space, when I had built up a small audience by writing on my blog, who I could reach directly with the Internet? I never would have thought about publishing my writing (back then, I was still determined to just be an actor) if so many blog readers hadn't told me over and over again to do it, so why wouldn't I just go directly to them and give them what they asked for? The Internet made it easy to give anyone who wanted my books an easy way to purchase them … I just had to let those people know how to find them.

Back then, the only way I could do that was by promoting my work on my blog, and hoping that other websites with large audiences, like Fark, boingboing and Slashdot, would be interested enough in what I was doing to link to it. There were no guarantees, because communicating directly with large numbers of people (I once heard that a 3% conversion of audience to customers is really good, and 5% is nearly impossible) wasn't quick or easy. 

This is where Twitter comes in.

My last two books, Sunken Treasure and Memories of the Future, Volume One, sold more copies, faster, than The Happiest Days of Our Lives. I've earned more from Sunken Treasure, which was published in 2009, than I did from Just A Geek, which was published all the way back in 2004. I don't have a scientific way to separate correlation from causation, but I just don't believe it's a coincidence that Happiest Days and Just A Geek were published before I had Twitter to make it easy for me to directly interact with a large number of people, and let them all know that these new books were available.

(It's important to me to make something super duper clear: if you think that simply using Twitter to advertise your stuff is an easy path to financial success, you should probably grab the nearest Pets.com sockpuppet and have a serious heart-to-heart talk.)

When Paul and Storm and Adam Savage and I started talking about w00tstock, our plan was to mention the shows on Twitter, and then approach other blogs and online journals, in the hopes that they'd talk to us about the show, and we'd get some promotion. We never got past mentioning it on Twitter (and our own blogs, which we would have done anyway) because the show in San Francisco sold out so fast – propelled almost entirely by word-of-Twitter - that we added a second show, which also sold out. Using Twitter as our primary means of letting people know – and encouraging them to let their friends know – about w00tstock worked better than any of us ever thought. That's just … that's just incredible.

But Twitter has done more than help me remain a moderately successful independent publisher and independent performing artist. Twitter made it possible for me to reconnect with old friends like LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner, and it made it possible for me to meet and interact with people I'd never come across in my daily routine, like Greg Grunberg.

Which brings me to the next point in this rambling love note to Ev and Biz.

One night a long time ago, I logged into Twitter and saw that Greg Grunberg, an actor who I loved in Alias and Hero
es, had sent me a message, asking if I was interested in working on Heroes. I told him that I was, but there was no way I'd ever get cast on his show; I'd had a couple of chances in auditions, and I'd been so excited that I sucked out loud. If anyone in a position to hire me for Heroes was interested in hiring me, they'd had the opportunity and (wisely) chosen an actor who didn't let his nerdsquee overwhelm his performance in the audition.

As it turned out, I was right … but Greg and I kept talking in DMs, @'s, and via e-mail. In one of those e-mails, he asked if I'd be interested in doing some voiceovers for Star Trek. Over a year later, I could finally reveal the awesome results of that particular conversation. 

Back in the old days, the only way something like that could have possibly happened is if I ran into Greg at a party or some other social situation. This assumes that 1) I would ever be invited to something like that, and 2) I'd have the courage to talk to someone I know from TV. Because I've only been to one Hollywood party that I actually enjoyed – less than 4 months ago – I was never really in a position to meet and interact with people in that kind of social situation. It sounds funny to me to put it this way, but that was really the first time I used a so-called "social network" to, uh, network in any way … and it wasn't even intentional. Twitter has made it possible for me to meet and talk with people, in a professional and purely social capacity, like nothing else that came before it. Maybe this seems self evident to everyone else in the world, but it's pretty incredible to me, and makes me grateful to be, as I so often say, living in the future.

In fact, now that I think about it, my role as Evil Wil Wheaton on The Big Bang Theory came directly out of my mentioning on Twitter how much I loved the show. Steven Molaro, one of the writers on the series, saw my comment, and apparently went directly into Bill Prady's office with the suggestion that they cast me as Sheldon's nemesis. Again, this is another one of those things that simply never would have happened without the immediacy of Twitter.

The last thing I wanted to mention isn't as life-changing or profound as the others, but it's just as cool as anything else in this post, and it happened just last week, when Anne and I got to attend The Pee Wee Herman show.

This was totally unexpected, because I'd forgotten that Paul was on Twitter at all when I said in reply to many queries, "Regarding Star Trek Online, I will borrow a phrase from Pee Wee Herman: I don't have to play it, Dottie. I lived it."

Somehow, Paul saw that and retweeted it. Shortly after that, we exchanged DMs and he invited me to come see his show – which I'd wanted to see since it was announced last summer – as his guest. There is no way I would ever be in a place where I could be overheard by Paul Reubens as I referenced one of his movies, totally unaware that he could hear me. This never would have happened without Twitter.

And now, the obligatory wrap-up.

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.

So thank you, @Biz and @Ev, for founding (and maintaining, for free) something useful and fun and awesome and life-changing. Thank you to everyone who follows and interacts with me on Twitter. And thank you to Sean Bonner, for introducing me to Twitter in the first place all the way back in 2007, when none of us had any idea about where this whole thing was heading.

48 thoughts on “in which the impact of twitter on my life is examined, and thanks is given to @ev and @biz”

  1. it is only recently that I started playing around with Twitter, but you are absolutely correct that it allows for amazing amount of “contact” with people one would otherwise never be able to contact.

  2. Honestly, if Twitter were invented just to get Evil Wil Wheaton on BBT, that alone would have been worth it.
    … and obviously, it was SO appropriate to sign in with Twitter to leave this comment 🙂

  3. For all the bitching people do about Twitter, it has had a huge impact on our culture in the past few years. It certainly has been a huge impact on my unfolding career as a web designer, with the ability to connect with other designers, many of whom are at the pinnacle of the industry. It’s added a huge boost to my professional development
    My knowledge of you would have been stuck in the obscure reaches of my memory as the kid from Stand By Me and Star Trek TNG (which I didn’t like as a kid, but LOVE now), had I not seen someone mention you, clicked follow and realized what a witty and cool guy you are.

  5. I met my fiancée on Twitter almost two-and-half years ago, moved several states away to live with him, and we’re getting married in a few months.
    Indeed and hell YES, Twitter can be life-changing…

  6. And thanks to you for actually interacting with followers too. It’s fun to be your average Mrs. Joe in your average town in ye olde Michigan, where the most brush with celebrity here is the local increase in movie production. Apparently all famous people shop at Whole Foods. (I totally saw Ellen Page there, squee! lol)
    Or when my brother (who happens to work at Juilliard) runs into people at work. Like last week he met Sting. I repeat. Sting.
    Anyhow, twitter breaks that barrier down a little bit with a simple little @reply. It’s fun to be able to interact with people that you see in magazines, movies and television, but would literally never see in real life.
    Everybody needs a little squee in their day now and then. Thanks for that.

  7. Twitter is a fantastic thing, indeed. I found several old friends over there that I had been looking for. Plus I get to read Tweets from ‘famous’ folks, and realize hey, they’re pretty much just like me, sarcasm and all. Kind of a nice equalizer, you know? We’re all just people, trying to get along in the world.

  8. I’d like to echo Stephen Bates’ sentiment above. If it had not been for Twitter (and the mention of your blog on podcasts like ExtraLife Radio and Paul and Storm) I would have been deprived of hours of free Wil Wheaton entertainment. What a shame that would have been!
    I also agree about artists and being willing to create for free. As a voice artist, I would totally do it for free if someone would let me. I make bumpers for my favorite podcasts (including RFB, but sadly I’ve nowhere to send it) all the time just to be on a mic recording something!
    Tweet on, brother! As Bono might say “Tweet away. I will follow.”

  9. I would add one small thing to this post: @Biz and @Ev, Please please please find a way to let us give you money so that this wonderful thing never goes away.
    I live in a sort of perpetual fear that like a number of banks or other online properties tomorrow they will announce “sorry folks, out of money”
    I’m so glad its here for free. But for all the reasons you mentioned I feel the trial has sold me and I’m ready to pay if it means it sticks around. :>
    S.

  10. I completely agree. The sad thing is, whenever I mention this on Twitter, the we-are-entitled-to-everything-for-free generation pitches a fit. I hope @Twitter doesn't listen to them, because a subscription *option* for no other reason than we want to make small contributions to keeping Twitter solvent, would be awesome.

  13. I signed up around the same time you did, and twitter has become such a big part of my life it’s almost scary. I feel like I have come to know so many people that I would never have a chance IRL and have even found new software vendors and professional contacts through twitter.
    You are right though, if the twitter feed is purely links or selling something-even if it is something I use and need-they are immediately unfollowed and blocked, because I like people who contribute to the conversation. Just my feeling.
    And I am with you as well on the let-us-pay-you bandwagon. These damn kids today want everything for free.

  14. It’s funny how Twitter can just grab you like that. I’d heard about it for years, but sort of dismissed it as gimmicky. Now that I picked up my HTC Hero, I’m reading and using Twitter probably more then any other app on the phone. It’s one of those things where you have to use it before if makes sense.

  16. I absolutely had an amazing experience because of Twitter just last night. My neighbor from downstairs came to my door in tears because her dog, Boris, had gone missing. I hadn’t seen him, but told her I’d keep an eye out for him. I was scrolling through my Twitter and saw a tweet by a well-known actress that I randomly follow, and thought it was a bit curious. It had a picture link, so I clicked it…and it was Boris! She had found my neighbor’s dog! I scrambled to reach her and thankfully was able to contact her management, who passed the message on to her. She called my neighbor within 15 minutes, and after confirming that it was indeed the proper dog, invited us to come and fetch him. She was lovely and very sweet, and had gone to all lengths to try and find who Boris belonged to, including taking him to a vet to see if they could find a microchip and prepping fliers that she planned to post in the neighborhood in the morning. The Twitter post was a random thought, and its the one that paid off. Thanks to Twitter and this sweet woman posting, a lost pup made his way home.
    Twitter rules, and I’m so glad I’m part of it! 🙂

  17. I will have to agree that Twitter has been a resource that I never imagined was going to be of use to me when I joined. Through it, though, I have made friends with several people who want to do everything from simply chat to promote my son’s blog (@PrayForAidan). Plus, I’ve been able to connect with (and quasi-stalk ;)) some of my favorite celebs (you, Levar and Brent just to name a few)

  18. I gave in and tried twitter when you mentioned being in awe about having 50k followers. I started to think I must be missing some awesome Wheatonisms, so I signed up. Now I get all my news from twitter. When my dad was in the hospital, I kept the family updated through twitter. I am now in daily contact with friends and relatives I hadn’t spoke to in years. Then I got Tweetdeck and the game changed again. Suddenly, I could make a tweet and send it to my facebook, which I hardly looked at prior. Now I am in contact with a huge number of people who were only memories a few months ago. People actually read my blog now. I am in awe over how a simple idea like twitter has changed and integrated my life.

  20. When I first heard about about Twitter, I though, no way. At the time, I had no clue what it was and how to use it. Once a couple of people finally talked me into setting up an account, and actually learning how do use it, I came to like it. Like you, I have come across some really cool people whom I would never in a million years have communicated with otherwise.
    Being the music nut that I am, I am able to post my thoughts on bands and what not. Even though no one gives a hoot I’m sure, I still like being able to type what I feel at the given moment.
    We could all go get a fancy job title if we really wanted to, but sometimes it’s just that….a fancy job title. I have always believed that if you truly do something with your life that you love, everything else will follow in do time. I can’t imagine getting up everyday for work, knowing you hate it with every ounce of your heart. Who could live like that?
    You are so dedicated to your work, that all good things will come your way. It takes time, yes. But it will happen.
    I wish you knew how much of a positive influence your books have had on me. Just A Geek, well, I just can’t say enough good about it. One of my ALL time fave books ever! So see, your work has already paid off. You are truly an inspiration to say the least.
    So to wrap this long thing up, thanks for following your hearts passion, and giving the world much needed smiles and laughter through your brilliant work. Sorry if this sounds goofy, but it’s the truth.
    P.S. another reason I am glad for things like Twitter, blogs, etc. is for moments like this. Being able to tell someone how you feel about their work or whatever it is. If I had to say this in person, I would probably pass out from nerves and excitement….LOL.

  21. There’s definitely movement happening, and I’m seeing it on all sides:
    Saturday I caught JoCo & Paul and Storm in Houston, their third Houston appearance. They’ve moved from “folky pub” seating about 100, to House of Blues seating probably 500, to a really nice classical recital hall that probably sat 200 or less and made them feel really out-classed by the acoustics. Though this one may have been smaller than the last, it was definitely a more intimate show, with stage responses to individual heckling. I even got a shout-out directed at me in response to a tweet I’d sent Jonathan that afternoon.
    Then last night Scott McCloud came and talked, and while he’s still apologizing for pushing micro-payments so hard 10 years back, I almost see a correlation to the iTunes store’s way of delivering both music and apps.
    And I’m going back and reading Warren Ellis’s Come in Alone blog posts, as he pushes against the direct market (read “comic book shop only”) sales of works as being too exclusionary to audiences who might appreciate the work but never be exposed to it because of how or where it’s sold.
    I brought it up at SIGGRAPH last year, that with the democratization of media through the decreased cost of production (cheap digital cameras, recording software and interfaces, etc), the increased opportunities for distribution (CD Baby, YouTube, Lulu, etc) there’s more opportunity than ever before for creative works to be unleashed on the world. The next step is, who becomes the arbitrator of taste? Naturally, your friends, the blogs you read, etc. These are the critics whose opinions you trust, and the word of mouth necessary to turn you onto new things.
    It’s all coming together. And it’s exciting. And I don’t know that, with the speed that it’s moving, anybody will have even the slightest clue where it’s going next. But we’ll be there.

  22. I joined Twitter because I was interested in hearing what @jephjaques was sayin in the little Twitter box on his QC forums. One user led to another, and I found you had a twitter, and so did a lot of other people.
    I wasn’t an early adopter, but I was an early mid-adopter. i didn’t use it much at that time – just sort of read what people were saying.
    It’s allowed me to reconnent with people whose company I really enjoy – and I’ve made new acquaintances across the continent with people who share similar interests or who are just plain interesting. Some of those people I found because YOU re-tweeted something someone interesting said. I followed the link back and found a new person, and his SI is now someone I “talk” to daily. She’s awesome.
    So, thanks Twitter – and thanks, Wil, for spreadin’ the love, as a friend of mine says.

  23. Such a great post that explains the awesomeness of Twitter. I hear so much flack from folks who don’t ‘get it’, but obviously you DO get it.
    I adopted it in 2008, which is not quite early-adopter status, but before the spambot explosion, and the they-took-away-all-@replies-from-us debacle.
    I use Twitter for sharing things, and sometimes for planning gatherings w/friends. I tweeted when I found out about a screening of ‘Better off Dead’ w/cast & director at the Aero in Santa Monica. People told me at the screening they didn’t know about it until I tweeted it.
    Sometimes I use it to get questions answered. Twitpic something, ask a question, and get an answer in under a minute.
    My niece @mackenzie used Twitter at her wedding. It kind of surprised me, but i loved the photo she posted!
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/28534206@N06/4003231380/in/set-72157622442408241/
    And, I’m kind of surprised you didn’t mention @seanbonner and others live-twittering the Death Star Trench Run at SXSW last year
    http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2009/03/18/twitter-trench-run/
    Also, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright all ‘get’ Twitter. When they started live-tweeting “Hot Fuzz” slash fiction, I thought twitter was going to break.
    http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2009/10/the-steamy-hot-fuzz-slash-fiction-tweets-october-19th-2009/
    I really think that last link should demonstrate that with Twitter, anything can happen and often does.

  24. Several friends and I have repeatedly described Twitter as a “collaborative, persistent IRC”. By which I mean the real IRC and not the way it’s described on NUMB3RS.
    The fact that it gives people the ability to see when they’re being talked about (or talked at) just helps to (gently) stoke their egos in a positive-feedback loop that’s become inherent in most of the successful “web 2.0” products. It’s the ultimate in variable ratio reinforcement, except with human responses instead of slot machine jackpots.
    …which is why all my updates are hidden. Stay off my lawn, you meddling kids!

  26. I’ve had a post like this rattling around in my head for quite a while, too. It’s just so hard to quantify the impact Twitter has had on my life. It not only speeds up human connection, it also opens up an entirely new means of connecting. It’s something I try to convey to my friends unable to understand my obsession. From now on, I’ll just point them here.

  27. Hey, Wil. Twitter is, indeed, awesome. And one of my friends, @giromide thinks it’s awesome, and thinks YOU are awesome, AND that you’re awesome on Twitter, but somehow you managed to block him. Is there any way you could reconsider that decision?

  28. Hey Wil,
    I have used TWITTER very sparingly. I think its tough to say what you want to say with only so many characters(reminds me of the High School year book).
    But I have to say that TWITTER is probably part of your ONE TWO Punch. Twitter backs up your blog and vice versa.
    Even though you had that experince of leaving STAR TREK I think you more than made up for it by marketing yourself via your blog and Twitter. So you kind of closed a door but opended a window at the same time – LOL
    It seems like maybe that was the best thing you could have done to connect yourself to like minded industry contacts.

  29. A monster post! Suits me, more Wheatonesque goodness to absorb 🙂
    Got to say that your line about artists being happy to do it for free rang a bell with me. I recently got an unpaid reviewing gig with bscreview.com and was really pleased about it though this was somewhat reduced when telling friends and family when they turned to me and said “are you being paid?” as if that’s the only measure of ones art…not as much art as writing the novels in the first place of course but a kind of art nonetheless.
    I love writing and do it for the sheer joy of creative expression, I love reading and telling people about what I liked, loved and sometimes loathed in a way that I hope is entertaining in itself. Writing for me is its own reward.

  30. A post some of us can relate too.
    Creating art fills a void in me that nothing else can touch. It’s hold on me so strong that once I HAD to buy paints at midnight and create something. My art has needs, wants and desires that are too powerful to deny.
    Funny thing is most people will never see my art.
    You’re a great writer, I’m envious!
    B

  31. That IRC comparison is a good one, I think. I've often described it as "asynchronous, time-shifted instant messaging."

  32. I don't block people without good reason. Typically, someone is blocked because they violated Wheaton's Law and I have a zero-tolerance policy for that sort of thing.

  33. “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.”
    That’s going on my Facebook quotes section.

  34. Wil
    You’re the reason I joined twitter. It has given me insights into things I might not have found otherwise. I’ve learned about behind the scenes stuff of some of my fave tv shows and movie. Hear about events going on and more. Twitter has broadened my horizons.
    I might not have a lot of people following me but I don’t mind. I’m having fun.
    I try to come up with witty things that will attract more users to follow me.
    I’m always amazed at how far twitter has come in the three years since I started using it.
    I like writing, never been published (except for my crappy college paper) but it doesn’t stop me.
    Twitter is definitely awesome!
    Thanks Wil for being an inspiration to me.

  35. “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.”
    This.

  36. While it is a wonderful thing that you are thankful for all the opportunities that have been given you, the fact of the matter is most if not all of them would have been impossible if you were not Wil Wheaton.
    My boyfriend is a musician, and a very good one. He promotes through myspace, facebook, and twitter yet none of these have truly resulted in a gain of people attending his shows or listening to his music, even the songs he offers for download on his site for free. Occasionally he may get a couple old friends who turn up at shows because they haven’t seen him in a awhile but its certainly not building a fan base. Any strangers he friends end up ignoring him. He also uses other streaming music sites out there to drum up interest. People will find the music, enjoy it, and bump it to bring more attention to it.. yet it doesn’t translate to them ever going to iTunes or Amazon mp3 to purchase said music, or perhaps requesting he perform live in their area.
    Between the absolute glut of artists on the internet and the “I’m entitled to everything for free” generation I am completely and utterly stumped as to what someone needs to do to get noticed and be successful without some kind of previous career that has already established them in the public eye.

  37. What, no love for @jack? Well, actually I have no idea who exactly is to thank for Twitter and in what order. But I do have to admit that Twitter grew on me. I had no idea what this was supposed to become and what to make of it – but it turned out to be a very, very neat way of communicating, just like you said. I’m still surprised, actually. And I probably should start using it in earnest, which I haven’t yet. I’m still in the toying around phase.

  38. Wil,
    I first bumped into your blog in the early Free Burrito days, still not really knowing much about the internet. Since then, I’ve kept returning to see you tighten your geek neckbolts and crank your operating table up to the lightning-strewn tower. I have you to thank for convincing me to try Twitter and, like a lot of the techy stuff you’ve recommended, it’s been worthwhile – though I’m still not sure about TypePad. 😉
    Speaking of doing something for the love of it, I review free Creative Commons albums and I do it for free. Twitter has added to the amount of fun and satisfaction I have received from my blog by introducing me to lots of interesting musicians, artists and, yes, geeks, and consequently I feel like I’m a small part of a wonderful community that passes on tips, warnings, good music, great links and dreadful jokes.
    Keep doing what you’re doing and thanks a lot for all the fun.
    Oh, I nearly forgot:
    @catchingthewave
    🙂

  39. I hear people talk about how the internet isolates people, but I disagree. Thanks to the internet, I’ve been able to reconnect with people I haven’t seen in years, and “meet” people I never would have otherwise. On 9/11 I could distance myself a little from the tragedy that was happening by telling myself I didn’t know anyone in New York, until I remembered that Tony, a grade school friend I’d reconnected with through a Yahoo group, had just been transferred to the Pentagon. I cried when Tony posted a message two days later that he was okay. An earthquake in Seattle–is Greg okay? I sent chocolates to Jodie in St. Louis (Facebook), who is trying to quit smoking after 15 years. I email Misty, who I met on a fan forum and then bumped into on Twitter, in Iraq and am getting ready to send her a care package. When my niece died in November, my friends from Facebook and Joe Mallozzi’s blog and Twitter sent me messages of support, and those messages really helped at the end of some long days.
    Twitter is a little different, because of the brevity, but I think it’s a great springboard for things. Networking, venting, checking in, you name it. Twitter is what you make it. Personally I love it!

  40. I’m almost totally passive on Twitter as are, so I read, a high proportion of the user base. I deliberately follow a small (~10) number of people, to avoid information overload but, even so,I have picked up sooo much useful and thought provoking info along with irreverant humour.
    It’s not changed my life, but it certainly has enriched it. The perfect example – 6 weeks ago you, Wil, were a distant memory from my youth. Since happening across you on Twitter, I have read a wealth of thought provoking blog posts, finally discovered podcasts properly, via Radio Free Burrito and experienced the joy of audiobooks, while paying you cash dollars in the process, via lulu.com for Just a Geek and Happiest Days… This fact alone should illustrate the power of Twitter for connecting creative people with a new audience.

  41. Wil: You recently mentioned another reason why you’re so happy to be in the future is because we’ll start seeing more direct convergence in not only communications technology (like with Twitter) but also with games and gaming technology. I’m a high-school teacher, and I want to start teaching my students about the power of Twitter to help them navigate an increasingly networked life. What sorts of jumping off points do you think I should look to make with my students? I’ve heard it said before: the kids don’t dig Twitter, and I can attest to that. Ideas?
    JP

  43. Preface: Musicians in the digital/kazaa/torrent age are getting thoroughly pillaged. As if record execs weren’t bad enough…
    Personally, I think online connections/promotions are tertiary to commitment and quality.
    There are many examples, some I think mentioned in this post or its comments (Jeph Jacques, anyone?), of artists who’ve ‘made it’ online entirely without prior noteriety. There may even be more people who’ve made it ‘big’ online who aren’t previously well-known. I always thought Wil was an oddity in that he’s successfully KICKED TO THE CURB his well-known TV/film characters (and all the curses/gifts that go with) and re-branded himself as himself. Few actors ever pull that off, especially S.T. actors. (e.g. William Fawking Shatner can’t quite claim it!)
    That said, the thing “someone needs” to get noticed: easily ranking in the top 5 is: cleavage. Again, Jeph Jacques I think proves this theory.
    His now-FT job started, I believe, with simple line drawings of the ladies and their ‘girls’. Now, add to that a commitment, a stubborn loyalty to a fan base that wasn’t even there yet, mix in some ever-increasingly adept art-making, a high quality product (writing/characters), and then (bringing it full circle to the OP/topic) value-adding something like twitter or a blog or freebies or fan-service… and success became his. Jeph has a FT job doing his art now (and even employs some other folks) and twitter (each characters’ tweets, I should say) are a wonderful part of the art.
    Important to note: he didn’t use twitter to promote or build a fan base. He used it to give his characters outlets: he gave his art another stage where it could reach audiences. He didn’t use it to Market (a one-way street with a ditch), he used it to Communicate (a two-way street with sidewalks).

  44. Sorry this is unrelated, but I was just listening to the D&D penny arcade podcast and you did a great job playing and role playing in that game. Also, I heard their comment about your character Al after he died going with the Traveler and all I could think was “you bastards”, while I laughed my head off, of course. As a long time fan of Star Trek (I’m 42), I hate to admit it but I both loved and hated Wesley Crusher, but I now see you were a victim of the writers making you this all powerful uber boy. Thanks for the wonderful entertainment you provided me with in Star Trek and the Penny Arcade! Take care.

  45. I don’t personally use Twitter to post (I’m a Facebook whore), but I follow a LOT of people on Twitter (Neil Gaiman, Ben Templesmith, Ben Kuchera, Gabriel, PVPOnline, CERN…even you, Mr. Wheaton.) It seems silly for me to use Twitter, since everyone I personally know is on Facebook…still, I highly enjoy following people such as yourself. It’s a great tool for geeks to stay on top of what is going on in the culture.
    http://www.livingwithanerd.com
    PS: Your transcribed conversations with your cat make me lawl super hard.

  47. I’d be happy to hear your boyfriend’s free music (especially if it’s compiled into an EP or album) if you could point me to it. I can’t promise a review but I will listen to it.
    @catchingthewave
    http://twitter.com/catchingthewave
    Or drop me an email.
    There we are, Wil and everyone else: the wonderfully unpredictable internet/Twitter in action!
    I do know some CC artists who, paradoxically, scrape/earn a living from giving away their music for free (Brad Sucks/JoCo etc.), but it is exceptionally difficult to do so. However, it is much easier to give it away, earn a little beer money, and derive a great deal of satisfaction and fun from music, while not excluding the chance of making it big.
    I wish your boyfriend the best of luck with his music. 🙂

  48. I hate to “plus one” but +1 to everything you said, Wil. Next week, I fly out to Do Amazing Things with Amazing People who I’d always looked up to and admired, but never dreamed of working with, because I had the bottle to friend ’em on Facebook, and randomly buy them beer.
    I’m leaving the UK next week, to come home to America and hopefully pull my weight on dragging Amazing Things into the light. Social Networking wins – as long as you’re not a dick about it 😉
    Thanks for everything, by the way. It’s a pleasure to read your output.

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