There’s a mix here, I think. The first one, the last one, and the one that goes “I should get an Emmy, I’m so amazing” are probably the ones that would send me reaching for the “Unfollow” button, personally. The problem is that tweets are a bit like email: any of these could have been said with tongue firmly planted in cheek in conversation and invited a jokey response, but 140 characters doesn’t give you much room to stress the irony, so unless you’re very good at phrasing you can come off sounding like a bore/twit/pompous arsehole.

I personally don’t see anything wrong in telling the world what you’re doing – that’s what twitter asks you to do, after all – and if we see twitter as a marketing tool then it’s a useful way of disseminating that information in a form that search engines can pick up on, too.

As some of your other commenters have said, though, I think it’s important to balance these sort of statements with other things: how you’re feeling, challenges you’re facing, requests for help (and responses to same from others) and other stuff that you think will interest your target audience.

Mike

To me, social media generally feels like personal advertising to an unspecified audience. Maybe I’m old school, but I still think personal communication is a one to one event that requires participation by both parties – ideally in person, next level by phone and then by the written word (like private email, right Dave?). While I agree with Phillip’s point about finding some creative inspiration, I still feel more comfortable keeping a business and/or marketing flavor with my own posts.

So to Anthony’s point, do you think you could ask the Tweeters to publish the names and phone numbers of the individuals who hired them so I could call and solicit some work? :-)

dD

However, this is truly how I look at it: Twitter asks “What are you doing?”, so if I’m about to do a promo for Kelloggs, I would tweet something like: “Next up is a promo for Kelloggs”. Two reasons: First, it’s because that would really be what I’m about to do and secondly, as a “networking” site, tweeting what I’m doing and for whom is not an arrogant attempt to impress someone, however if I’m a potential client and I read tweets like that, I’m probably more apt to hire that person than someone who only tweets about what they’re doing over the weekend or the movie they saw. Twitter, for me, is a 80/10/10 type of tool, the largest percentage business related.

I enjoy reading what others are up to, in my line of business and others…it’s encouraging, challenging and inspiring.

While I certainly hope no one has had issues with my tweets, I can honestly say, I’m just answering Twitters prompt by saying what I’m doing, nothing I’m offended over and trust others are not as well.

I agree with Anthony’s comment that, “A little tolerance is in order.” Social media is what is is. It is different for each person so don’t sweat the small stuff:)

However, I read a wonderful and insightful article today on VoiceOver Extra on this very topic of on-line self-promotion. Our esteemed colleague Philip Banks describes the danger of dullness when one is prolific with the promotional posts:

http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=sqf2owo7

In short, it’s important to have balance in everything, including one’s promotional efforts.

Cordially,
Karen Commins
http://www.KarenCommins.com

I, for one, am happy when someone else books a job. At times, I’ve even toasted and celebrated others’ wins as much as, if not more than, my own. With that said, my concern is that voice-actors seem to want to connect more with each other rather than with those that could actually hire them.

Yes, there needs to be a more organic process to “connecting.” However, don’t forget, that the mainstreaming of social media is still in its infancy. In time, it will inevitably mature. Or simply die. A little tolerance is in order. I’m working on mine.