I am a huge fan of Twitter – I adore that it brings me a slice of people’s lives, both strangers and familiars, and allows me to connect with people I might have otherwise never met. Because for me Twitter is about that connection with people, I don’t follow too many big celebs who twitter (Jimmy Fallon, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, etc), especially those who I suspect are just jumping on the trend in a popularity contest– I have nothing in common with them, and am doubtful that I’ll be able to make a real connection with them. Plus, some of them may be using ghost-Twitterers. I do add people I really like, like my first celebrity Twitterpal, JJ Abrams favorite (“Felicity,” “Alias,” and a bit part as the pilot on “Lost”) now-Hero Greg Grunberg.
Greg, or “Grunny,” as he’s known to his fans and Twitter friends, was one of the first actors to embrace the medium and use it to connect with fans, promote both his show (“Heroes”) and his band (The Band from TV, a group of TV stars who jam for charity), and advance his commitment to epilepsy education and awareness (his son is afflicted).
Grunberg is the chair for the National Walk for Epilepsy (to be held March 28 in Washington, DC – donations to his team, Jake’s Crazy Brain Waves, or any other team via the WalkForEpilepsy.org website) and yesterday launched a site called Talkaboutit.org. Until the site officially launched, it featured a few familiar faces (Hugh Laurie, Hayden Panettiere and others) urging visitors to “talk about it.” The “it” is epilepsy, and the site is meant to educate what it looks like when someone has a seizure, as well as dispel some myths and stigmas about epilepsy. For some words from the Actor/Hero/Dad himself, check out this interview from GeekBrief.
Twitter isn’t just a tool to show other people how popular you are. As Grunny shows us, the technology can also help make the world a better place– not competing for increasing your number of followers, but making the technology and your popularity work for a cause you believe in. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s worth following.
