In Defense of Twittertising

A couple weeks ago, I was approached about adding the occasional advertisement to my Twitter feed. My response: an immediate yes.

Many of you probably read that and think, “I would never sell out like that,” but I thought to myself, “What took you so long?”

Those of you familiar with my television work are probably aware that I sometimes take work doing commercials. The reason I do this is because I enjoy money. Moreover, I need money to maintain my opulent (middle-class) lifestyle. Selling products for cash allows me the freedom to take less well-playing jobs like making soon-to-be-canceled television shows.

The situation with Twitter is no different. I provide a valuable service (a constant stream of dick jokes) to Twitter for free. As of today, I’ve written 2,655 tweets. That’s a lot of free material, all of it contributing to the entertainment of the 1.5 million people who follow me, as well as the multi-billion dollar capitalization of Twitter itself. When presented with an opportunity to get some return on my investment of time and energy, why not take it?

There will always be a group who become upset with their favorite actor/musician/writer/racecar driver/whatever when that person accepts money instead of remaining “pure.” I get that. I was probably like that too when I was sixteen. But the real world has a way of intruding on people’s ideals, and my mortgage doesn’t care that much about my indie cred.

Moreover, I suspect the people who scream the loudest about “selling out” would be very happy to accept the same money themselves. That’s not a knock on them – it’s just reality. People got bills, yo.

So yes, I will be throwing in the occasional advertisement into my Twitter feed. Just like a disc jockey reads ads and a television show airs commercials and blogs accept sponsorship. I’m sorry if it pisses anybody off, but if you are upset, I know what will make you feel better: a delicious Klondike bar washed down with an icy cold Sierra Mist.