Artists, in the past, were labeled as outsiders and anti-social. Interesting since most artists have a burning desire to get everyone to see their art. Artists are like dictators in this aspect, we want everyone to either Hate us or Love us. The image of the brooding artist in the corner is gone, since everyone is bombarded with so much media everywhere. Today we must remind the world that we are here. For me, it’s why I set this blog up. However, it gets to be a bit difficult to do it all. First we have to do the adult things like pay bills and keep a reasonably clean domicile while we try to entertain and please our friends and family. Then we try to get our names out there thru networking events and social media. Of course most of us will try to keep up on the latest trends or current events seeking out motivation and ideas for our next Magnum Opus. We also try to spend any time we can reinforcing the basic talents and practicing our skills. Of course, the most important part, we have to do the actual work. We need to find time after all that to do what we love and create art.
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Okay, this isn’t really design-orientated, however it is something that I thought I’d blog about.

Twitter, some call it a mini-blog, some call it asinine. But I like it. Not just for the fact that I feel I can be more social with it than other social sites, but because I’ve found it very helpful. First, when I learned about MySpace, I wasn’t so sure about it. My friends started telling me how cool it was because it had games and such. So, I went on it and I enjoyed the experience of finding friends I had lost contact with. I remember how I thought through Classmates.com, I’d be able to find old college chums, but they started charging before I really reconnected with anyone. With MySpace, I was also able to keep in touch with old co-workers and such. Then Facebook opened up for those of us without “approved” connection emails. I was able to find all types of friends and family who I had lost touch with. I even found some old army buddies I hadn’t seen in over a decade. The problem with these sites was that I am reluctant on adding people I don’t know. I ended up making an art only page on MySpace, and a fan page on Facebook to allow for strangers.

But, with Twitter, I add people who I feel could add some type of conversation or connection with all the time. I have found other graphic designers and even politicians. In fact, a certain Texas senator has responded to some of my questions. I have had people on Twitter offer help during my current crisis of being unemployed, even some in other cities.

The other aspect of twitter, other than networking, is news. I have few people I follow, such as NASA and CNN, who keep me up on quick 140 character news bites.

And finally, by having the twitter badges on your blog or site, you allow for an opportunity to add more meta keywords to possibly add some SEO power to your site. When I was at DGWB, I remember learning how much traffic a blog can bring to your site. I see Twitter as a tool that does a bit of the same.

So, that’s pretty much in a nutshell what I use twitter for and why. What’s your excuse for using or even not using. add a comment.