If you’re a Tech-Savvy Singer like me, you’re probably already on Twitter. If you’re not, you’re probably one of those people who, whenever it is mentioned by friends or on CNN, complains, “I still don’t understand what Twitter is.” The best explanation I ever heard was a guy sitting behind me in a café having the “What Is Twitter, Anyways?” conversation with his clueless friend. His answer was, “It’s kind of like a cross between a blog and a haiku.” I stifled a guffaw—and immediately tweeted his quote.
Normally, to do this kind of article, I’d interview someone important in the world of classical singing who had mastered this tech tool and invite him or her to share some personal advice and experience about it. However, major opera singers and their ilk have been much slower than celebrities of other genres to either try or get the hang of this Twitter thing.
But that doesn’t mean that my readers are so slow to adapt. Many of us are on Twitter or, if we’re not, then we’re on Facebook, MySpace, instant messengers, and other social networking tools that include a Twitter-like function.
The purpose of this article is twofold: to get those of you interested in Twitter on board, and to keep you from making fools of yourselves.
Part One: Welcome to the Twitterverse
What is it?
A site or application where you can write a mini-update about yourself or even someone or something else. Similar to the status update functions on Facebook and MySpace, or an instant messenger “away message.” Like a blog, but much shorter.
How does it work?
Either from the site’s website, a smartphone application, a desktop Twitter client, or a simple text message, you can write something containing up to 140 characters and publish it. People who “follow” you will see your tweets (updates) on their home page. But anyone can read what you write on your home page unless you change your privacy settings. You also get to follow other people and either see their tweets on your home page or have them texted to you.
How do I get started?
Luckily for the technophobes, Twitter is much simpler than most other social networking sites. Sign up at (you guessed it) www.twitter.com, choose your name and password, and start tweeting. Follow other twitterers by seeing which of your friends are signed up and looking up your favorite celebrities—a startling number of them are on Twitter, which is one of the draws that brings more and more people into the fold.
Download a Twitter application for your smartphone or, if you still live in a cave, attach your phone number to your account so you can send tweets by text. You do not have to automatically receive other people’s tweets by text. That’s an option, but most people who care that much about Twitter are nerdy enough to have a fancy phone with a Twitter application (or five) on it.
You could also download a desktop application like TweetDeck to manage your Twitter life—but, in truth, you’re not really going to need that until you start getting addicted. I myself usually tweet from my iPhone or from the Twitter website.
Congratulations, you’re on Twitter! Tweet to your heart’s content. But before you get carried away, let’s not forget . . .
Part Two: What Not to Tweet
This advice is not just for people on Twitter, but people who use any social networking tool to give little updates about their lives. Twitterers may be the worst offenders, and usually the most public, but Facebook status updates are not far behind. Thus, as is becoming the common practice among the tech-savvy, I will here use the verb “tweet” to refer to non-Twitter-related status updates as well.
Before I admonish you, let me establish two points. First of all, despite the clever title of the article, I, the Tech-Savvy Singer, will never tell you outright not to tweet something. It’s your life and your Internet presence, and you are the only one who can decide how much or little you want to share about yourself. There is a strong movement in the public sphere toward artists sharing more intimate details about their lives, good or bad, than ever before—and fans are eating it up. So it’s up to you how far down that raw path you want to go, or if you want to keep things glossy. I just want you to make conscious decisions about it, not walk around with foot-in-mouth disease.
Secondly, don’t take too much comfort in your privacy settings. You might be publishing to just your friends, but you don’t know what they might be passing along to their friends.
OK, can you think of any reason to not publish the following statements? I’ll point out what the pitfalls are and when it’s OK to break the rules. Remember: how much detail to share about your life is a very controversial subject. These are just suggestions; only you can judge for yourself. Classical Singer and the Tech-Savvy Singer (that’s me) cannot be held responsible if you get yourself into trouble—or, on the opposite end, if you become so boring that no one follows you.
Let the games begin.
“On my way to meet a friend for coffee, running out the door late as usual.”
Seen through the lens of “What Not to Tweet,” the fault is obvious: this singer has just defined herself as a chronically late person. That might not matter much for a coffee date with a friend, but if you are admittedly always “running out the door late,” you will probably be late for rehearsal, too. Not to mention, you come off as irresponsible—if you really cared about being on time, you wouldn’t stop to tweet about how late you were. This sort of thing is tweeted all the time.
Tweet it anyway? It’s not a very interesting update and offers nothing of value to your followers. The only person who cares is the friend you’re meeting, and you might as well just text her or just send her a public but direct message with the @ symbol. For example: “@myfriendsname I’m running late, be there in 15!”
“Memorizing Ariadne. I love this music!”
Sounds like a nice enough tweet, right? Friends will be able to reply with their shared love of Strauss and fans get an insight into your musical life. But what if this statement was tweeted the day before the first rehearsal and your conductor is your Facebook friend? Maestro might not be too happy that you’re still learning your music the day before.
Tweet it anyway? Not as is, if it’s actually the day before. A safer version would be “practicing Ariadne” instead of “memorizing.” Or, if you’re not worried about your conductor’s opinion and want to err on the more honest, exciting side, you might as well go all the way with it: “Desperately trying to cram Ariadne the night before rehearsals. Pray for me!” That might earn you some furrowed brows of disapproval, but at least you’re giving people something to relate to.
“Grabbing lunch at Café Montmartre, my corner bistro. Get the croque monsieur. It’s delicious!”
“Hello, stalkers!” As a performer, you’re a public personality. Are you sure you want the entire Internet to know what street you live on? What if the following week you tweet that you are going out of town for a couple days? Do a search and figure out how difficult it would be for a potential burglar to figure out where your unguarded apartment is. Might make you think twice about revealing your neighborhood.
Tweet it anyway? If you have no known stalkers and you determine that your address can’t easily be found online, then sure. Impromptu restaurant recommendations are one of the perks of following people on Twitter. If you want to be safe, though, leave out the “my corner bistro” phrase and just concentrate on your sandwich recommendation for the restaurant.
“Vote ‘No’ on Prop 8!”
You are entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to share that opinion. Expressing your political view in a fair, inoffensive way should not set back your career. I say it should not. That doesn’t mean it realistically won’t. A wonderful last-page article in last April’s Opera News entitled “The Writing’s on the Wall” suggests (citing only rumors and without naming names) that some administrators might be taking note of Facebook users’ political leanings.
Tweet it anyway? According to me and most industry people I know, “Heck, yeah!” Whatever your political stance, this is the time to stand up for your right to free speech. As long as you can state and debate your opinion considerately, respectfully, and with a hundred times as much care as you would discuss something noncontroversial, most people will be adult enough to not take offense or, at least, to not hold it against you. And if someone does shy away from hiring you because you have a different political opinion than they do, it might not be the kind of working environment you want to be in anyway.
So, have I scared you off Twitter forever? Don’t be too quick to jump off the bandwagon. I’ve tweeted successfully to raise money for musical projects, to get strangers to come to my performances, to talk with celebrities, and to get advice and help on countless topics. So as long as you have the judgment to decide for yourself what to conceal and what to reveal, tweet away.
